A Game of Chance
by Kenwoody
Summary: The rest of Book 3 after the Firebending Masters. Watch out for some torture, better than I make it out to be. Pairings of Kataang, Tokka, and Maiko and a surprise pairing... that I created myself! HUZZAH! It's finally finished! Sequel is out!
1. Girl Talk

**This takes place after the Firebending Masters. The couples are Kataang, Tokka, and Maiko. I am also going to throw in a pairing of my own later on that is based on the story completely, and no one will see coming. I don't want any killer reviews about the pairings. Constructive criticism please, because I want to be a writer when I grow up. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show, or some of the jokes. I bet the guys who do own it read this stuff and are thinking 'nyah, nyah!'**

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Chapter One: Girl Talk

**Zuko's POV**: It's been exactly eight days since the Avatar and I saw Ran and Shao. I still cannot get over the beauty of those dragons, or of the incredible fire they created. Since then I have not wasted a moment in practicing every single firebending move I have ever done before, just to see what it looks like now. I have to admit, it looks fuller, more purposeful, more connected.

Except for the Avatar, I avoid much contact with most people. They all mainly see me as that guy who has been following them obsessively for the past eight months.

Katara, who I met first formally met in the cave, has been cruel, and mean, but she has every right. She's afraid I would betray them again.

Sokka, her brother, has now just officially abused sarcasm in making it perfectly clear he believes I am a jerk, and has this thing against firebending in general; I think even more since I burned Toph.

Speaking of which, Toph has been fairly civil, she was the single person who believed my change in heart in the beginning, but now she's suckered me into these bending duels to get me back for accidentally burning her feet. The only reason I think she doesn't totally crush me is because I still need every part of me working to teach Aang firebending. Everyone knows Katara would never heal me.

"Hey Zuko, are you still on the planet?" I was yanked out of my thoughts by the young monk violently trying to get my attention.

"What is it Aang?"

"How was that for a fire blast?"

"Uh, it was fine, could I see it again."

"How much of it did you space out on?" Aang asked knowingly. From stories at dinner, I know that no one can keep track of how many times the monk had spaced with earthbending and waterbending before so I suppose he could tell.

"Just the last flick of the wrist." I attempted to lie, but from past experience, I had been known to be a terrible liar.

"Just the last flick of the wrist?" I nodded in reply. "So pretty much all of it then." This time Aang said it as more of a statement than a question.

"Pretty much." I knew I couldn't pull anything from this kid. He was really smart for someone who was only twelve.

**Aang's POV: **I just sighed as I went to redo the intricate move. It was a hard one. I had pretty much covered simple fire blasts from the hands. Now I was learning to use my feet too. Being an airbender helped a lot. How did those guys do some of those moves without being able to bend the air to keep you up longer?

I was anxious to get out of firebending training, Toph said that I'd be learning this incredible trick today, and as for waterbending, I didn't need a reason to want to get to that, there was still the obvious reason of just wanting to be with Katara.

Where was Katara by the way? I looked around for a bit, but only saw Zuko, Sokka, The Duke, Teo, and Haru. All the guys were here, where were the girls?

**Katara's POV: **Toph and I just needed to get away from all the guys for a bit. They were all great friends, but still, I missed just talking to the girls. Toph, who normally was fairly tomboyish and didn't really enjoy 'girl talk', was surprisingly enthused with the idea. Now we were exploring the huge temple.

"So, uh, Katara… where are you taking us?" Toph asked.

"I honestly don't know." I felt embarrassed even as I said it. I stopped when I felt a hand on her arm. Looking down I saw a large hole in the floor. Toph covered it up before we kept going.

"Thanks."

Toph just shrugged in response. We came to a room with a giant Pi Sho board, and stopped. Toph looked at me and pretty much begged to sit down. So I walked over and sat on a tile. I sat on the Water Lily, Toph sat on the Badgermole.

"So, uh, Katara… can I ask you something" Toph sounded nervous as she asked me that, though I don't know why.

"Anything!" I wanted her to know she could trust me. She is one of my best friends.

"Well…" Toph hesitated, but continued, "I have a friend who might or might not really like someone who doesn't like her back. And he just might like someone else. And it might be weird to tell him because they're supposed to be, like, best friends. Plus, this might be crush just happens to have a… cousin who is friends with the friend of mine, and my friend doesn't know how to approach the crush, or the crush's cousin, and her feelings are getting stronger and stronger, and she just doesn't know how to contain them, and…"

Toph drifted off into quietness as my jaw mentally fell off. I had no idea… well, fine, I had a slight idea that she might like Sokka, but I didn't know she felt so strongly, or that she was so freaked to talk to me about it. I quickly composed myself before answering.

"This friend of yours, let's call her Tomiko, should talk to the cousin, let's call her Kaya and tell her how she feels. If Kaya is a good friend, she will be totally understanding and supportive. Then maybe leave small hints for her crush, we'll call him Sho, and spend more time with him. If she's anything like you she'll be tough and protective of herself. I would suggest maybe telling Tomiko to let down her walls, and let people in. She'll probably find she will have less trouble talking to people." I hoped my suggestion was a good one.

"This moved away from Tomiko, Kaya, and Sho long ago… didn't it?" Toph looked really red in the face, confirming any slivers of doubt I had. "Damn it Katara, your blabbering has infected me too!"

"Mmm hmm. So, Sokka… how long?"

"Since that library; he was the first one who forgot about my blindness, and just saw me."

**Toph's POV:** First came the touching you can share anything with me part, then came the grilling for information part. I needed to take the heat off of me, and I knew just how.

"So what about you, who do you got the hots for, cuz, y'know you can tell me!" I felt silly asking the question; any one with eyes could tell how much she was helplessly falling for a certain Avatar.

"What do y-you m-mean Toph?" I rolled my eyes at her bad excuses of lying. Her voice had suddenly gotten very high pitched, stuttery, and her heartbeat was loud and fast, I was surprised she could keep it from jumping out of her chest. That feeling there pretty much portrayed how I felt around Sokka.

"At the moment, you have broken both your's, and everyone else's records in the world for worst liars... except Zuko! Come on Katara, I'm blind, not stupid."

After what seemed like forever of debating with herself, Katara pushed over and confirmed what I'd felt. "Tell anyone and I kill you, but I think I'm kinda falling for Aang… hard! I hate hormones! Spirits, I am so whacked! I shouldn't be thinking about him like that, especially since he's the Avatar. I don't think he could like me, like that; I'm his teacher for spirits sakes! Not to mention, I'm just a peasant, there's nothing about me that… But I can't help myself, he's gotten so… wow! And I don't know how much more I can…" She paused and her shoulders sagged. "This conversation ended up on a much different, and probably more explicit level than it started on, didn't it?" Katara's blabbering was so hilarious, but she kept herself composed with me, so I bit my cheeks.

"Well, as your best friend, and someone who's studied a bit of psychology when I lived with my parents, I am qualified to go hmmm! But seriously, Katara, you should talk to him. I mean, have you seen the way he looks at you…" Katara cut me off.

"We haven't had a real, normal conversation since before the invasion…eep!" Before the invasion? My curiosity was peaked especially because after she said that, she acted as though she slipped up.

"What happened before th…?" I had to ask, and she interrupted with an answer.

"He kissed me! But it was probably just a fluke, like Pre-Invasion Day jitters, that can't be how he actually feels about me! It was just a fluke!" I felt my brain unhinge. How did I not feel that, even through all the metal? Way to go Twinkle Toes! Katara got off the Pi Sho board and started walking again. I followed her, slightly confused.

"Ok, new topic now!" Katara begged.

"Aw, but this one was getting fun!" I whined teasingly.

"Fine, but now it's my turn to hear you talk about your hormoney impulses." Ooh, she knew where to go to get what she wants.

"Boring dinner conversations it is." I might have been disappointed, but not too much so, to forget sarcasm.

"So… how far is Aang in his earthbending training?" I grinned. Aang was a great student and I was very proud in his accomplishments. I had reached mastery in 5 months, which was an Earth Kingdom record. Aang was fairly close to beating me, with almost mastered in slightly less than six months.

"Close to mastery, in fact. He's almost giving me a run for my money. There are only a few things left for me to teach him, such as metalbending, seeing vibrations all the time, even without a blindfold, and lie bending." I kept it to myself that there was one other move left, I just wasn't sure if I really wanted to teach him that. Katara seemed to wig out a little after I told her that.

"Not lie bending! Please don't teach him that… not just yet. Please!" Uh oh, it was things like that which ruined relationships.

"Fine Katara, not just yet." Like hell I was gonna keep that promise.

We stopped when I felt a dead end. It was a little balcony that was a great place to check out the rest of the canyon, that is, if you can see. I put my hand on the wall of rock that was the canyon and felt to the bottom. There it felt very wet, and there was a piece of the temple that Combustion Man fell off of, and next to it, was Combustion Man himself, in all his deadish glory.

Suddenly I couldn't feel Katara's presence anymore. I turned to where I last felt her and touched what felt like the beginning of an ice bridge.

"Katara what are you doing? And what did you connect you ice bridge to?" At that moment the ice turned to water, and I felt Katara jump back down. With one hand she bent the water back into the pouch. In the other she was holding something.

**Katara's POV: "**Ok, spill, what is it Sugar Queen?" Toph demanded. I wondered why she suddenly snapped at me. I was just too curious though. First I see a scroll floating in the mist, then I see it is on a ledge, and I don't know why, but I feel myself compelled to read it. So I went and got it.

"Well…?" Toph sounded impatient, so I quickly opened it up and read through it. I just got more and more confused.

_A Reversal is in order, soon to make two._

_Talk about it, you won't be disappointed._

_Tell her to let her walls crumble, it isn't just one way._

_He has more than he knows, but first she must get close._

_He needs to fulfill all three, despite how he feels, he should be happy, he is different._

"This is so weird!" I slowly repeated the contents on the scroll to Toph who just scrunched up her face in confusion. I rolled the words over in my mind, but I couldn't make sense of what was sitting in front of me.

Maybe Aang will be able to make sense of it, after all, he would know every part of the temple, maybe he'd know what it was." Toph suggested, making me feel silly for not coming up with the idea in the first place. Aang would know what to do.

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What do you think? Read and review! PLEASE!!


	2. Making Sense

**Disclaimer: I own EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD... except Avatar.**

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Chapter Two: Making Sense

**Sokka's POV: **I never liked fire. Wait, scratch that… I only ever liked one kind of fire; the huge bonfire our small tribe had on the Winter Solstice each year. At sunset my father would light this special kind of wood that had been soaked in the salty ocean water, and dried several times. Because of the salt, the fire would turn a lime green, and all the parents would kiss, and all the kids would groan in embarrassment and pretend to look away, although we all really didn't mind. Then we'd run to play in the snow.

Unless it was green fire that Aang, or Zuko, or any one was making, I would hate it. But somehow Aang had found another connotation of fire, and the bending that inevitably came with it. It's the only explanation of why he became so excited with firebending, when just a month ago, he was positive that he would never firebend again.

Today I really needed to talk to Aang. It was embarrassing, and I was probably asking the wrong person, but he was the only guy I trusted enough to talk about this delicate matter.

As soon as I saw him coming down the hall, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into my room, shutting the door, and the window, just in case Teo decided to take a ride on his chair glider thing.

"Sokka, whatever it is I swear I didn't do it, and I'm sorry for eating the last of your apples, but Momo and I were starved and…" I had to cut him off; he was making my head spin. Where did he keep all the air for those long one breath apologies? Oh yeah, duh... airbender!

"I'm not accusing you of anything, I wan…" What Aang said finally sank in. "Wait, so you were the one who polished off my apples!? Never mind, I was wondering… have you noticed anything different about Toph recently?" Aang stopped the guilty look and became serious, although I definitely saw curiosity in his eyes.

"Besides the fact that she's less sarcastic than usual, no. Why?" I swore inwardly. That means it was just me who was feeling this way. Oh Spirits! Why me? Why do I have to keep continually falling in love? From experience, I've pretty much killed each of the girl's I've liked. I don't know Suki's dead, but if Azula got to her…

I thought about Suki. What was she to me. I mean, I thought I had liked her in the whole girlfriend boyfriend way, but I had only really spent two days talking to her, and they weren't consecutive. They were months apart. I had just thought about that recently, when I dared remember my stupid mistake on the day of the eclipse. I was furious at Azula for saying that, and it cost us everything. Now I couldn't even pinpoint why. I didn't know a thing about her except that she was a strong feminist, and a good fighter. Once I realized that, I had desperately tried to remember why I cared about her so much; why I felt that she was someone I could romantically involve myself. I spent days thinking about that, and I realized that I only had one reason.

My fantasies about her. I would think about us being all couply and doing all sorts of couply things, like going on dates, and getting this Earth Kingdom dessert called Ice Cream, and laughing, and joking around, and... I don't know, throwing caution to the wind. I thought that that's what romance was supposed to be like. I had started crushing on fantasy Suki, and when I remembered it, the real Suki was never as amazing. When I met up with her at the Serpents Pass I expected so much more, and so much less tension. Not trembling legs, cracking voice tension, but just awkward tension. And I expeced that kiss to mean so much more.

It really didn't.

Then there's Toph. My best friend. We're the ones that go on all those crazy heists and pull off all of our shenanegins. I don't remember laughing as hard with anyone in comparison to her. That night we talked around the fire after Aang and Katara had gone to sleep when Aang was going to school, she made me laugh so hard that my sides hurt afterwards for two days. Then during our heists, I had buckets of fun as we tried to outdo each other with the most outragious ideas on how to scam people out of their money. Like I said, she was my best friend in the entire world, I spilled out my guts to her before anyone else, even my sister, and I started to worry of exactly what I think about her.

"Ok… what's up? I can tell something's going on. You know you can tell me!" Leave it to Aang to always have an open mind, that's one of the reasons he was one of my best friends.

"Suppose…" I trailed off, not knowing how to say it. Looks like I had to use the clichéd way of explaining. "You see, I have this friend, I'll call him Mokka. Well Mokka used to like this girl a lot. I'll call her Suri. But Suri was… um… forced into slavery for the Fire Nation, and Mokka hasn't seen her in a while. Recently Mokka told me he was starting to have feelings for another girl… strong feelings. Like falling in love feelings, y'know. We'll call her Tally. But Tally could never think of Mokka that way, she just thought of them as buddies who goof off and, y'know, hang out, and tease each other. My buddy Mokka doesn't know what to do and… and…" I saw Aang who looked totally shell-shocked. He didn't even blink. "Yeah, there isn't really any point in the 'my friend' metaphor anymore, is there?" I was kinda afraid to look at Aang. I had just admitted to everything I had been trying to deny. Now there was no more denying to be done. Now I had to take the truth face on, just like Toph would.

Aang just stood there staring. Finally he managed to splutter "T-Toph! You l…l…like T-Toph!?"

I sighed. "Thanks pal, those words of wisdom helped a lot."

Aang seemed to snap out of it a bit. "Sorry, it's just… whoa!"

"I know, you're not the only one whoaing! I am on my very own waterfall of whoaing! I can barely get near her now without shaking, and you know how perceptive she is! I just can't stand to get shot down." Aang looked at me sympathetically.

We were snapped out of the conversation by hearing the girls running toward us. Katara was calling for Aang, Toph trying to round up everyone else.

**Aang's POV:** Katara dragged me to a scroll she said she found. Curious, I pushed all my shock of what Sokka just told me from my mind and focused on what Katara was saying. She said she was drawn to it and when she got it, it had some strange poem thing written in it. I think I had a good idea of what was, and when I unrolled it my suspicions where confirmed. In blue ink, at the bottom right hand corner there was an upside down triangle with curved lines inside that looked like waves.

"Spirits, Katara, you just found a prophesy! See, when Combustion Man went south, he took the Hall of Prophesies with him. According to airbender legends, almost everyone in the world has a prophesy, and when they were ready, it would come to them. I wanted to go in and look for mine when I came here when I was 10, but Gyatso said it would come to me. He said it might be blown out in a storm and float around until it reached Appa's saddle and landed there, or a lemur would pick it up during its migration and drop it in my room, or something like that. Looks like you found yours."

"But, what does it mean? Plus, most of this is about other people, like here it says tell her to…" Katara froze up and for a second I got worried about her. She gulped and finished her sentence "…let her walls crumble." And I noticed that Toph stiffened up too.

**Toph's POV: **Katara and I both froze up. Earlier Katara had told me something fairly similar. _If she's anything like you she'll be tough and protective of herself. I would suggest maybe telling __Tomiko to let down her walls, and let people in._ Oh spirits! The next line, what was the next line? Katara read my thoughts. Being discreet she answered my question.

"Then after that it says 'it isn't just one way', what does that mean." Katara sounded to me like she already knew, she was just asking that question to answer mine. Could it mean… no, it couldn't. I swallowed the knot in my throat and 'looked' over to Sokka; he didn't seem to notice Katara's tone of voice, or my reaction. I was safe, for now.

"I don't know Katara, but I'm more confused and concerned with the first lines, what does it mean 'a reversal'?" Aang asked. We all looked at Sokka, he was our great Tactician, if anyone could decode it, he could.

"Sorry guys, I got squat. I'm just as confused as you." At Sokka's words, we all looked upset.

"May I see it," Zuko piped up. We all looked at him in surprise. We never thought he was the cryptic type. Seeing our faces, he started to explain. "My Uncle always spoke in proverbs and codes. Maybe I picked something up from him." Aang was happy to give him a try. Katara however snapped.

"We don't need your help! We can figure it out fine." Even I was surprised at her blunt viciousness. Although I was getting used to it, poor Zuko wasn't.

**Zuko's POV:** Even now, the waterbender's words stung a little. Everyone seems to have adapted ok to me being here. Katara was supposed to be the most accepting one there, and now she was the most difficult person to convince.

"This scroll is an artifact, one in a kind, and it's mine, the spirits gave it to me. I am not trusting it in the hands of a crazy firebender."

Sokka argued with Katara, it gave me the smallest amount of pleasure to see someone defending me.

"I have to go with Sugar Queen on this one. Remember when Sparky here burned my feet? It was an accident, but it happened all the same." Toph's voice came out, though she continued to look down, almost as if not wanting to meet Sokka's eyes. And… Sparky?

Aang, always the peacemaker stepped in. "Here, Katara, how about I copy it perfectly on to this sheet of paper and let him study the copy? Is that ok?"

"Fine"

Aang spent a good five minutes making it as exact as possible. Then he checked with Sokka, who gave it his seal of approval. Once Sokka's perceptive glance dubbed it good enough, Aang handed over the newer looking scroll to me, as Katara received, and hid, her older looking one.

After a minute of studying the sheet of characters I couldn't believe it, but I could start to piece together some things in my mind. Maybe I had inherited some of my Uncle's understanding of the cryptic arts after all.

"The way these phrases are broken down into separate lines is unique. It seems as if the subject, or the person it's about changes after each line. So if we break it down and look at each line separately, we might be able to piece things together." I hope I didn't sound too stupid. But no one seemed to think that.

"That's actually pretty smart! Way to go Sparky!" Toph replied, with a slight nod, which, coming from her, was like earning a medal.

"Ok, so the first line says 'a reversal is in order, soon to make two.' What could that mean?" Sokka was all business, but his voice also sounded a bit angry when he directed the question to me, which threw me for a loop. I got over the little display of acceptance from Toph, and the little display of anger from Sokka, and focused on that line. Katara beat us all to it an answer though.

"Well, a reversal is like a switch, or a change, or a swap. So some kind of switch is in order, but not the mechanical type. The only thing I could think of is someone switching sides. Two some ones to be exact." I blinked as Katara said it. That was really smart! I wouldn't have gotten that.

"Yeah," Aang chimed in after Katara's train of thought ended. "But I can't think of any one we know who would join the Fire Lord, so that might mean we'll get one, or two new people to add to the gang!" Aang looked so happy he had gotten that. Only Katara wouldn't put that line as solved.

"It could just as easily mean someone who switches sides twice. That could be someone who just joined the group!" I soon felt several pairs of eyes on me. Before I could defend myself, someone backed me up.

"I don't think so Katara. Zuko is good now. Plus, it said 'soon to be two', if it was someone switching sides multiple times then I think they'd have used the word 'twice' instead of 'two'." Aang jumped to my defense, I felt a great deal of loyalty and friendship towards the brave, bald monk. I owed him one, although he also made a good point.

"If it means what we think it means, then who do we know that would switch sides for us?" As soon as Sokka said it my mind went back to the letter I had written to Mai, telling her that I had joined the Avatar, and why. I also told her how much I loved her, and wished they didn't have to be enemies. Could Mai be our switcher? No, she's too devoted to my corrupt sister.

"Well, well, well!" Toph giggled as she said it, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Lookie who's here, we're gonna break poor Appa's back with the load he'll be carrying." We looked curiously at Toph, and then over to where she was pointing. I felt as though I swallowed my fist as no one other than Mai was walking towards us.


	3. Reconciliation and Sleeping Conditions

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

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Chapter Three: Reconciliation and Sleeping Conditions

**Toph's POV: **I was so happy; that we were getting one of Azula's lackeys; I'd call that a win! Not to mention she might be able to teach The Duke a little knife throwing. He knew how to handle knifes, but unless we were mounting a surprise attack, that skill wouldn't help because when we have to fight the Fire Lord, we won't have surprise on our side. Without the luxury of surprise, to use only knives in battle requires uber close range as well as the attacker to be a really bad fighter, because The Duke is short, and easily defeated. Throwing knives would be another theory. There, you had the upper hand of long range, plus an easily hid weapon that can be accessed real easy. Poor Teo couldn't learn it though, because precision requires proper stances, which mean proper legs.

Surprisingly though, everyone but Zuko and I took fighting stances. My eyes widened, she could just as easily be here to attack us! I got into a stance too, but mine was a bit more hesitant, because, we attacked Zuko too, and look what his intentions were. I felt Katara's hand twitch and I realized what she was about to do, so did Zuko. I felt his eyes widen and his heart suddenly race. Oh he definately liked her.

"Guys, wait for one moment, remember the prophesy? Maybe we're gonna have a Zuko repeat!" I quickly voiced my opinion before Katara lashed out at the friend of Azula's. Aang lowered his hands, with Sokka hesitantly following suit, though he kept his hand on his sword, just in case. I wouldn't know, but my guess was that Katara scowled before letting her hands drop to her pouch.

"Why are you here?" Aang asked. Before Mai could say anything, Sokka spoke up.

"Wait, before you say anything, do you have any weapons? If you do, take them all off you, and drop them on the ground." Sokka was so smart, that way, even if she was just a messenger for Azula; no one would be hurt in the process.

Mai smiled. "Perceptive." She moved one hand to her wrist and took off a cuff that held about 50 little wooden daggers; the same thing happened with her other wrist, then four more, higher on her fire arms. She took off a belt that held several metal daggers on the side we couldn't see, then flipped over the sashes draped over her dress and dropped several more knives and daggers. Next she bent down to her leg, where four more cuffs were wrapped around ankles and legs. The knives there were slightly bigger, and were sharpened to a point. She looked as if done, then her eyes widened as she revealed a special pouch with one small wooden dagger. She put this one farther away from the others, and still farther away from us. She backed away from that one knife as well, almost like she thought it a curse. I paid a lot of attention to that one wooden dagger. If only it was metal, then maybe I'd understand why she seemed to despise it.

"See that one; I want you to destroy it. Zuko can use firebending to burn it." Mai almost sounded angry at the dagger she wanted us to destroy. Aang tried to ask why, but my guess was that the look on her face told him not to argue. Zuko pointed two fingers at it, and I assumed a little fireball shot at it. I felt the ground under it start to heat, then I heard it crackle a bit, then it was like a mini explosion. Only it didn't come towards anybody, it just burnt the ground and the dagger was ash. Mai's body gestures, breathing, and heartbeat gave away that she was happy to be rid of it. I earthbended the rest of her weapons out of her reach, and then set it on a high earth pillar. If that didn't satisfy Katara, nothing would.

Mai handed something to Aang. "That'll explain everything."

**Mai's POV: **Thank god that arrow was gone. I couldn't stand keeping it anymore. It was a burden I didn't want to bear. Moving my thoughts away from it and just handed the sheets of paper to the Avatar who read it silently, then handed it to the Water Tribe Boy.

"Okay…" The Water Tribe Boy sighed, either reluctant, or bored, "Welcome to the Gaang. Aang and Katara gave out original rooms, I found one for Zuko, so Toph'll scout out a room for you." At this the small Earthbender scowled, then it looked as if she reconsidered. She nodded and tapped her foot, then walked over, and yanked my sleeve, pulling me towards the direction of a slightly darkened hallway.

I just followed her until we got to a room. I opened the door and found a quaint bed, with a tapestry on the far wall of an air nomad attempting an airbending form while looking at a bison. I awkwardly sat on the bed, I thought the girl called Toph would just leave so I could unpack, but instead she sat on a chair across from me.

"So, I thought you were an Azula junkie, what caused the switcheroo?" I was surprised at the bluntness in her voice.

"You can read what I gave the Avatar and find out." I just wanted to unpack.

"Uh, not really." She looked up at me for the first time and waved a hand in front of her face. Oh crap, she's blind. Way to go. But she continued like it was no big thing. "Plus I think Katara's sick of reading everything to me, I'm getting sick of it too. I'd like to hear it from the Ostrichorse's mouth." So the waterbender was 'Katara'. I could remember that. Actually, no I probably couldn't.

"Well, before Zuko left, he left a note on my bed saying he had to join the Avatar. I kind of guessed that was going to happen after he told me that he couldn't stand the war meeting he went to, but still, he wrote some other stuff that shocked me, and made me think. I'll let someone read you the rest of that." I blushed, remembering how Zuko had told me he loved me; did he still feel that way? "So, anyway, I kind of thought back on how I met Azula, and what she did, to both Ty Lee and me. Then I thought about what she forced us into doing to the prisoners, and how I'd talk to them after Azula left. Then I thought about what we learned in school about the war, and how I never got it, and how I got hit on wrists whenever I asked questions about it. And I guess I kind of pieced together the whole story. My nation is evil and corrupt. I wish I had never done any of the things I did... That enough?" I breathed. She nodded, then paused before speaking

"So, I'm guessing you and Zuko had a thing." I looked up and blushed as Toph said this, how did she know that? I tried to lie.

"What do you mean: thing?" I sounded jumpy, and when Toph gave me a 'yeah, right' look I knew there was no use arguing, so I came clean. "Fine, there was a thing, then a fight, then a bigger thing, then he left right as the thing finally started becoming good. He was the one who taught me I could show my feelings to certain people. I think I loved him. And he wrote that he loved me, I just hope he still feels that way." I didn't think I was gonna say that much, but I decided I wanted to try and make a friend, and that involves a little back-story.

"L-love, you're in l-love?" I was shocked by her question, but it didn't take long for my brain to start working.

"Who?" I could be just as blunt as she was. If she was anything like me, I'd get more than the full story, after one sucky lie.

"No one. I mean nothing, just curious." Ok, sucky lie was fulfilled. I gave, what I hoped to be the knowing and disbelieving gaze she gave me earlier, then I remembered she wouldn't see it. I didn't have to say anything though, she just kind of started talking, and then blabbering came.

"Fine, there is one guy that will go unnamed, who I might really like and I don't know if I love him, and I'd like to know, and if you are in love, you'd know what the checklist is before you can say you're in love so maybe you could let me in on the apparent secret. It's just; I've never met anyone I liked like this before. He, he; no guy is even close to my age even knew I existed because of my over controlling parents, and… oops." I laughed as she realized how in detail she had gotten. She looked embarrassed, and I wanted to comfort her.

"Hey, no need to feel embarrassed, I had overbearing parents too, why do you think someone had to teach me I could confide in some people." She had to smile at that, before she could ask, I started up again. "As for the love thing, it's different with every one, your standards for love are most likely different than mine, but some of the basics is that he makes you feel incredible all over, he makes you feel amazing and special, all you can think about is him, you can't control your body when you're around him… like you'll blush, or stutter, or blabber. Or even get defensive. You would also love everything about him, and can forgive any of his annoying quirks, you can't stand anyone who you think might like, or be flirting with him, you might feel protective over him… I didn't so much, but you might. Oh, and the most important thing is, you could never imagine yourself with anyone else but him, like you'd be devastated if he ever liked someone else to the point of losing control of your actions." I hoped I was accurate; it was how I felt with Zuko. I remember I had gotten here mainly by thinking of him, and fingering the choker he had given me, it had somehow led me here. But I wasn't going to tell anyone that I got here by following my necklace.

"That's all the requirements? Damn, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm in love. And it sucks, because he likes someone else, and I'm just here lovesick and heartbroken. That leaves me vulnerable and… I'm doing again so I'll leave you to unpack."

"I'll let you know if he gives off liking you hints." I had a guess of who it was, and I wanted to extend a gesture of friendship to Toph; I'm guessing I'm not going to be warmly welcomed by everyone.

"Thanks, I'll do the same for you." I blushed; I think I made a friend. She left on that note. I wondered if I ever had a conversation this deep or meaningful with either Ty Lee or Azula. Definitely not Azula, she'd use it against me in an instant, especially now. But Ty Lee…? I really didn't know, and until now, they were the only friends I'd ever had. What does that say about me, and my buddies? Not much.

**Toph's POV: **Damn, we had a lot in common! We could probably become good friends, and I have to say, I would enjoy that. I walked quickly to the giant Pi Sho board, where Sokka was impatiently waiting with a confused Aang, Katara, and Zuko. I suddenly felt like a real heel for making her tell me all that.

"Well?"

"No Sokka, she's really changed, and yes, I did check by making her lie and feeling how good she is at it. She's as bad as Katara." I distinctly heard a 'Hey!" from Katara, but Sokka and I both shoved it away.

"Well, how did you get her to lie?" Sokka was really grilling for information. I sighed, I felt bad for ratting out my new potential friend, but I didn't want everyone to despise her.

"Easy Sokka, get to know a bit about them, then ask them a personal question that they feel uncomfortable answering, but need to answer somehow otherwise they have pretty much have given away the answer. Then when you say you don't believe them, you also get the real answer! The one I did for Katara was when I just met Jet and asked her what her past history with him was." I vaguely heard Katara give another 'HEY!' and felt Aang get very angry. I smiled. Oh; he had fallen in so deep! I then remembered what Mai had told me and worked hard to hold down a blush. Then again, I had fallen in just as deep.

"So, just give back her knives already! She specifically told me that she hated the Fire Nation for what it's done, and I didn't feel one little change in heartbeat, normal breathing, the works, and treat her nice! Let's not scare the person off!"

"What did you ask her?" Zuko spoke up, he sounded slightly nervous, but the question shocked me, so I couldn't put two and two together.

"What!?"

"There was this fancy kind of girl logic question you asked her that made you see how well she lies. Well, what did you ask her!?" Suddenly adding came back into my brain and I got a metaphorical four. I was gonna bug him.

"That remains strictly between us girls. She wouldn't have told me if I didn't know she was lying. So I'm not going to tell a boy! If you want to know, ask her yourself! " I smiled when I felt him tense up. I also felt Katara smile, as my best friend, she knew exactly what I'd asked her about, and why I was teasing poor Zuko, not like she minded my being evil to him.

Aang butted in with a question. "My one question is that, Toph, how did you know that was what Sokka wanted you to do? He never pulled you over and talked to you, and we didn't hear him say anything. The only time he could have told you, was during the conversation, and we would've noticed that."

I smirked, I thought if anyone would get our little trick, it was Twinkle Toes, still, I was glad we could pull a trick over on every one, too bad we had to spill.

"Well, Sokka and I found out that we both knew Morse Code; he had learned from his father as a great battle technique, I had paid a servant in my old house to teach me so I could make a friend, I had mastered it, but a few days later my father found out and had banished him from the grounds. He had learned mainly battle code Morse, and I learned mainly conversational Morse. We each taught each other quite a bit of the other, so if you ever saw us tapping, we were probably teasing each other through our fingers. Over time we've pretty much mastered zoning out others, but, while Mai was taking out all her knives, Sokka quickly sent me the message." Every one nodded, Aang even suggested we teach them at least battle code Morse. Katara thankfully insisted that they let us keep the conversational Morse to ourselves, an inside friend thing.

"During a battle, I'd only be the only one on the receiving end, Aang too if he can master feeling vibrations without a blindfold, but otherwise, I'd be the only one who'd be able to hear it. But it'd still be a good idea." Sokka agreed with me, and I smiled, quickly tapping out that I'm glad the conversational would stay between us. I felt him smile, and I thought I felt his heartbeat quicken, but it immediately went back to normal, and I wondered if I had even felt it at all.

**Zuko's POV:** I couldn't stop myself from barging into Mai's room, I knew Toph was kidding when she said I should ask her myself, but I still decided in my mind to do just that. I found her putting away knives; looks like Katara had beaten me here, with all of her knives. She looked at me surprised, and I felt so stupid! I should have planned this out. My first one-on-one conversation since I left and I just burst in here without anything to say. I racked my brains for something to say.

"So… you settling in well?" Stupid question, way to go!

"Yup."

"That's good. So… you got all your knives back. Did Katara get them back to you?"

"Is she the waterbender girl?"

"Yeah."

"Then yup."

"So, I have to ask, why did you want me to destroy that one dagger? And why did it blow up like that?" I wanted to take some heat off me, plus I was genuinely curious of what was in that wood that made it blow up.

"It was given to me by Azula. It is a hollow dagger that was filled with a poison that tortured whoever got hit with it. It wouldn't kill you, just torture you horribly! I had always despised it, I found it cruel, but Azula insisted I have it. I never wanted to use it. I figured that now, if I'm cutting all my ties to Azula and the Fire Nation, I might as well destroy that in the process."

As Mai said it I stood, horrified at the brutal weapon Azula forced on her, and how much she didn't want it. It made me love her more than ever, but I haven't done anything to deserve this incredible woman's love back. I don't think she felt that way back.

"Thank you for that letter, by the way, I'm touched that you would think of me, even during all that was happening." Mai's voice almost sounded like it was shaking when I opened my mouth to speak; I realized my voice was shaking too.

"I just wanted you not to think that I'd forgotten you, and I meant everything I wrote." I hadn't noticed that we were walking closer to each other as the conversation had been going on. We were now standing inches apart. I saw her look into my gold eyes with her dark brown ones, then slightly lower, possibly my lips. She looked back up to look at me straight in the eyes and some feeling was flickering in them. She looked back to my lips. My breath caught; could she…

"Oh, screw this." Mai said in an airy voice.

Then we kissed.


	4. Buddies

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Avatar.**

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Chapter Four: Buddies

**Katara's POV:** For the first, but probably not last time ever, Toph had called a girl talk! We went to the Pi Sho board again, which was quickly becoming 'Girls talk about Guys' Central. Only, this time, Mai had come. Why had Mai come? I had asked when she had first waved the girl over. I mean I know it's called girl talk and she's a girl, but, still… it wasn't a free for all. Toph must either really trust her, or they shared some special moment in her room; something that I'll never be part of.

"So, spill everything! I felt some seriously loud heartbeats up there, and Zuko was in the room with you, so, what happened?" Toph sounded excited and eager. I was still clueless.

"Hey, guys, I'm behind on the whole thing, can I get a fill in?" As I said it, I almost felt bad for cutting the conversation off before Toph got any details; almost. Toph seemed all too eager to fill me in after an ok nod from Mai.

"Well, yesterday Mai told me what Zuko had written, and she totally loved him back, but now she wasn't sure if he still felt that way, so she was nervous, then after the meeting Sokka called, Zuko zipped into Mai's room faster than Aang when he's using airbending to run, and then their heartbeats went soaring through the roofs, but I don't know what happened after that because I had to give Mai one of the rooms with a wooden floor. I think you're all caught up." Toph breathed. Before anyone else could speak Toph corrected herself. "Wait, she knows about Sokka and…aw crap!"

"So it was the Water Tribe Boy! I knew it! Hmm, so he's called Sokka! I'll remember that." Mai teased Toph as she buried her face in her hands. I cracked up, she hadn't told her who she liked by name! Toph picked her head up and looked evilly at Mai, as she remembered her question had never been answered. Seeing Toph's expression, Mai rolled her eyes and bluntly answered her original question. "Nothing happened, really, it was nothing!"

Like hell I believed that! Toph looked doubtful too. I pieced together her tone of voice and took a guess. "So, I'm guessing that means you kissed, things didn't go farther base wise, but it did get more passionate, and you ended up sleeping together… in the sense of falling to sleep together, in the same bed." From the shocked look on both of the girl's faces, I'd say I hit it right on the button. "Ok, you can put your jaw back on any time now! I'm just a lucky guesser!" I wouldn't tell them that I had pictured doing that with Aang a few times before; and those were the exact words I would've used on Toph.

"So…" Mai sounded as if she really wanted to diffuse the conversation away from her. "Katara, what is going on with you and the Ava… Aang. What is going on between you and Aang?" Oh crap! How did she see that? We barely saw each other yesterday, and she could tell that quickly?

"Is it that obvious?" I asked miserably.

"To everyone except Sokka, and Aang." I sighed, at least those two didn't know. "You should talk to him, because it's really obvious that he adores you too. To everyone except Sokka and you."

I stared at Mai as she said it, the words partially lost on me. I just could not believe that's true. I turned to Toph who nodded back in a "well duh!" kind of way.

I let myself take it all in. I still just stood there, shell-shocked. Before I could respond, I felt Mai look down curiously, out of a pocket, she pulled a small scroll.

"What's…" Mai started to ask the question, then paused for a second, looking at the seal. Her eyes widened. "Oh crap!"

**Sokka's POV:** I was just hanging out with Aang, when he walked over to ask Zuko a quick question, I obviously went with him.

"Hey Zuko, I went to get you in your room for our morning firebending session, but I couldn't find you, where'd you go?" Zuko surprisingly turned bright red.

"I, uh, slept in another room last night." Zuko said shiftily. I laid out two options in my mind, but after everything Zuko has done since he joined us, and seeing the blush in his cheeks brought me to the second option.

"Where did you sleep, because most of the rooms in this Spire are being use… oh!" Aang got it. As Zuko's blush deepened it confirmed that Zuko had slept in Mai's room that night.

"Oh!" Aang just repeated.

"Yeah." Zuko replied.

I pulled out the copy of Katara's Prophesy and decided to pull Aang out of this awkward conversation. Plus I was dying to find out who else made it into the prophesy, Mai fit in perfectly. I still wasn't sure whether Zuko was the other reversal, or if we'll get someone else.

"Hey guys, unless that incredibly complex conversation of yours is just so exciting, you can't leave it alone, I was thinking we could work on the next line or two of the prophesy."

Both quickly came over, and gave me looks of thanks. I just shrugged and handed it to Zuko. He scanned the next line, which read_ Talk about it, you won't be disappointed. _Then he spoke up, donating an idea.

"This particular line is addressing the reader directly, or whoever's prophesy it is, in this case, Katara. So Katara needs to talk with someone, and the conversation will end in a way that Katara sees favorable. If she is supposed to talk to, let's say… Azula, the results would come out in her favor. Does anyone in the Gaang need to talk to Katara about something? If they do, this could be what that is,"

I noticed that as soon as Zuko said that, Aang started sweating and getting all nervous. Zuko noticed this too, and Aang just nodded in response. I didn't question further. Part of me didn't want to know! I looked at Aang, silently asking him if I wanted to venture further. He shook his head.

We moved down to the next line which said _Tell her to let her walls crumble, it isn't just one way._ I was once again at a loss for ideas. This was so unlike me. Usually I have so many great ideas. It could be the Toph thing. Spirits, I could let someone get hurt in battle if I'm this distracted! This time, Aang had an idea to contribute.

"Well, it says 'tell her', so that means it can only be about Toph or Mai, but Mai wasn't with us at the time. Plus, remember when Katara brought up this line and then suddenly froze up, well I remember that Toph also froze up, so I think this is about Toph."

"Then what does the next sentence connected to it mean? 'It isn't just one way'. One way for what?" I asked, desperate to at least uncover a tiny bit about her. Spirits, I have fallen in so deep! But she is a mystery, I don't know much about how her life was like before she joined the gang. I wanted to know more! Zuko spoke up again.

"Well, when most people use the term 'one way', they usually mean point of view or beliefs, or even one way feelings. But I can't think of one that could apply to Toph…"

Both Aang and I gulped and looked at each other. Aang started up first.

"It could mean…"

"Not possible! She would never… she's too… everything, and I've been… with Suki… and…"

"How, do you know that? Plus, do you have any other suggestions?" Aang was right, I couldn't think of a single other thing it could be. However, I almost overlooked something huge.

"What if I'm not the second person, it could be any one in the entire Gaang, why are we assuming it's me?"

"She shares her opinions and opens up to you the most; Katara coming in second. And I don't think anything's happening between Toph and Katara, besides them becoming closer friends recently." I hated to admit he was right, but, we were buddies, and therefore, talking was involved.

"WOULD SOME ONE PLEASE FILL ME IN!?" Zuko suddenly shouted. We had forgotten that he was there. Aang looked at me for an ok to tell Zuko everything. I gave a curt nod, biting back a grumble, then leaned against the wall to listen to Aang's retelling.

"Well, Sokka recently has started falling for Toph, hard! And he doesn't think he has a shot with her, because they're just supposed to be friends. And now he read the line that we think is about Toph, saying that something isn't just one way, so I'm thinking it could mean she likes him back, and Sokka is sticking to his 'no way' theory." Zuko's face twisted into a grin.

"You should just talk to her and hope that she feels the same. I got lucky; I don't see why you should pass up the chance of luck like that, even with the chance of getting shot down. Besides, I have a feeling you might get lucky!" Zuko smiled evilly. I cocked my head. Did he see something, or is he just encouraging me? I have never seen anything, I had to believe it was the second, but I still went to go find her, after quickly waving good bye to the guys. There is no way that the wittiest, smartest, funniest, most talented earthbender in the world would even look twice at a simple peasant without any bending skills. She even said it herself. _Sorry, I didn't count you… y'know, no bending and all!" _She even said that I wasn't even good enough to be counted for.

Still, my betraying feet somehow got to Toph's room, and she wasn't there. I heard fast footsteps coming down the hall towards this room

Katara burst in, her face red from running, and dead serious. She looked grim. I gulped, knowing this could only bad news. Did Azula follow Mai here?

"Why do I have the feeling you're not here for our weekly sing-a-long?" I tried to sound sarcastic, to lighten up the mood a bit. I just succeeded in sounding pessimistic and worried.

**Zuko's POV:** I hoped I had given Sokka good advice. I would really feel like a jerk if he ends up getting his head pounded in by Toph. But, from the way I've seen her protect him in battle, and always look down at the ground during their conversations; I doubt that is the case.

Sokka had made it clear at first how much of a jerk he thought I was, and I was fine with him thinking that. Now, we've gotten closer. He and Aang are pretty much my only friends here, if you don't count Mai. She is even more than a friend. Aang, Sokka and I really have gotten close though. I think it was the prophesy that brought us together. We had to work together, and we ended up confiding in each other.

I was snapped out of my thoughts again by Mai streaking down the corridor. When she got to me, she held a small scroll in her hands. It was very unlike Katara's prophesy, or the cheap copy us guys were forced to use, and it had the royal insignia on it, something only my father, and Azula had access to. I went pale, I remember, during Azula's silly kid sleepovers; Azula would tuck similar scrolls into Mai's and Ty Lee's pockets when they weren't looking. If it was given to Mai that way, it had to be important.

"Zuko, we need to leave now, for Tao Ra!" Mai sounded out of breath, and terrified.

"Wait, calm down Mai; why do we need to leave?"

"It's Azula, she's found your Uncle!"


	5. The Trip

**Disclaimer: I used to own Avatar, then Brian and Mike made a hostile takeover and kicked me out, leaving me cold, and wiping my memory of all that had to do with me owning the show, so I thought I was watching someone else's show, until I saw the Dai Li brainwashing, which snapped me out of my trance, and inspired me to write a fanfiction, and once I saw the... (Cut out due to extremly boring monologue ha ha!)**

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Chapter Five: The Trip

**Toph's POV:** Zuko and I both wanted to leave immediately, but one thing stopped him. He absolutely did not want Mai to come, and she really did!

"I can take care of myself Zuko; you of all people must know that!"

"I know you can, it's just, how many non benders can hold their own very long with Azula! I don't want you to get hurt! Plus, you are new to the group; wouldn't it be in the least bit difficult to be shooting daggers at your friends since you were six?" I felt Mai falter, I knew then she did have some mixed feelings about fighting them.

"I would not hesitate to bring your crazy sister down! Plus, she's going to have at least a portion of an army, and I really wouldn't mind fighting them!" Mai still persisted, and she was not lying in the least, then again she never mentioned anything about hesitating to fight Ty Lee. Aang butted in.

"Mai, I think Zuko has a point, I think you might want to sit out of battles against your old friends for a bit longer. Plus, Appa can't carry too many people. Going to Tao Ra and back without stopping would be difficult with you there, don't forget, we'll also need room for Iroh on the way back!" I felt Mai sigh, as she had given up the argument. I felt a need to add a reason that Mai would get.

"Also, Azula may not know you switched sides yet, it's only been, what, four days? You could be our secret weapon later on." I felt Mai brighten up at that and waved as we started to lift up.

"Zuko, I expect to see you come back, ok?" I rolled my eyes, and Zuko laughed.

"I promise!"

--

We had been flying for about half of an hour now, everyone was just getting ready for the battle ahead, then Twinkle Toes pulled out a familiar sounding sheet of paper.

"Aang, are you crazy? You brought the prophesy!?" every one turned as I said it.

"It's the copy, plus, I figured it would give us something to do while we wait to get there. Zuko, Sokka and I think we've decoded the next two lines. Remember, the one that says 'talk about it, you won't be disappointed' and the second is 'tell her to let her walls crumble, it isn't just one way'." I almost choked on my stomach right then and there. Katara and I had argued about that a bit last night over our own copy.

_Flashback:_

"_No way Katara, it can't mean that!" I didn't know what else it could mean, but it wasn't possible that it meant that._

"_What else could it be Toph? Can you think of any other opinion you have that you need _

_reassuring is not a one sided opinion? I'd like to see you try!" _

"_What about Suki? Sokka only likes me as a friend, and if that's as close as I'm getting, I'm gonna frickin' hold onto that, even if it kills me!" I felt my stomach twist in knots._

"_We're not even sure that she's even…" Katara paused and lowered her voice dramatically, probably for Sokka's sake, who was in a room fairly close, just a few doors down. "We're not even sure if she's even still around. I'm just saying talk to him, give it a shot!"_

"_Why would the people who write these things even care about our love line, this has to do with how we save the world, not about who's dating who! It means something else!" With that, I walked out of Katara's room and headed for mine. I felt my cheeks get wet so I wiped my eyes on my sleeves._

_It could never be me. He could never see me the way I saw him. I loved him so much! It was because no one could ever see me as a girlfriend. I'm too tough. Any one as incredible, smart, funny, encouraging, comforting, and unique as him would notice a short, tough, flat, brunt, and annoying little girl about two and a half years younger who has been known to punch people as a way of saying thanks._

_And now, I'm even losing my strength over my stupid pining. Not anymore. I'm going back to the strong, sarcastic, person I was. At least, that's what I wanted, but I couldn't. Sure, I could still be sarcastic, and strong, and all of that. But this was one wall I couldn't put back up. I had given my heart fully to Sokka, and even though I knew I would ever hold his in return, I felt he was the only one who could hold it; it didn't belong to me anymore._

_I should probably take the longer way back to my room, the other way goes past Sokka's door, and right now, I just can't see him. Right now, I'm too crushed to even walk past him without breaking down into tears._

_End Flashback:_

Katara sounded like she was forcing her voice into normality when she asked, "What does the first line mean?" Sokka quickly answered.

"Well, it doesn't refer to anyone else, it's just a command, so we think it is saying that you need to talk to someone, Katara. It also hinted that you'd like the outcome of whatever you talked about." Sokka said it bluntly. I smiled wickedly. Just yesterday, I had told Katara that she needed to talk to Aang and tell her how she feels, looks like we're going to have at least one happy ending. Strike that, with Mai and Zuko included, we have at least two happy endings. Why am I not surprised I would be the only one afterwards without a happily ever after? Maybe if I was more like Suki, and taller. I wasn't going to change who I was though. Plus, I have been getting taller recently. At least puberty has one advantage.

Aang piped up. "The second line, we're less sure about. Katara, it says you need to tell one of the girls to 'let her walls crumble', and seeing the way you and Toph reacted to that, we thought it could be about Toph, also, Mai wasn't part of the group when you got it, so it could only be Toph, right?"

"Yeah," Katara began. I freaked, what the hell was she doing?! "I told her something similar to that when we were…sparing, when we were sparing." I breathed a sigh of release at Katara's lie, it was an ok one, plus it covered up the whole Sokka thing.

"Ok, the line connected to that says 'it isn't just one way', what does that mean?"

"Katara lied again for me, this time she sounded a little bitter, I flinched. "I don't know Aang, I just don't know." Aang must have heard the bitterness too and thought it was directed at him because he quickly dropped the topic.

"How about we go back to that line later, the next one says 'he has more than he knows, but first she must get close.' Any one has any idea what that one means?" I drew a blank. Aang gave a suggestion.

"From the way the way that the prophesy words it, it sounds as if the "more" is a reference to power, so maybe someone in the group has an amount of power that they can't access, and aren't aware of until someone gets close to them, sort of like the person is a trigger to accessing power. Kind of like how the avatar state was triggered by fear, or grief, or anger, this person's power is fueled by a person."

"Well, the benders in the group are the ones with the most power, so it has to be one of them." I felt compelled to argue Sokka's point. He was definitely pulling himself down; I could not stand when he couldn't see how incredible he is. He was our tactician, our humor, our map expert, our weapons expert, he's our glue, he's my crutch, he can't see how much we… I… really need him.

"C'mon Sokka, that's not true, just because some one's not a bender doesn't mean it's not talking about them, besides, it says they don't know it, that could be any one... of the guys at least." I was a little upset that this one wasn't about me, I mean, a new skill would be great, but for some reason (I think I knew what it was I really wished it was about Sokka.)

"I suppose, but it will most likely be a bender, so I say we can narrow that down to Zuko, Aang, and Haru. And also, one of these guys is gonna have someone, from the prophesy it suggests one of the girls to trigger it by getting close to them. Like a bond needs to be formed between these guys before the guy can acquire this new ability." Sokka was very businessy, but we could all tell he was sad that he couldn't help more, or be more. We thought that he stopped thinking that way after he met with Piandao.

Aang somehow pushed past Sokka's feelings of worthlessness and focused on what he had said. I really wanted to just deck Aang then. "I'm going to have to lean towards it being about Zuko, because I think by now we all know that he and Mai are back together. So Mai could be his trigger, plus, he and I did just learn this incredible new way to firebend, that puts us ahead of most firebenders. If there ever was a time for Zuko to gain a new ability, it would be now." I can't see a thing, but I am guessing Zuko is doing the surprised thing, then starts denying the possibility of that being the meaning.

"But, it couldn't be me, I'm just an average firebender. I would suggest it was Aang the prophesy was talking about. You are the Avatar, plus, you're a young Avatar, so how much do you know about the expanse of your abilities, there could be something new that is linked to your, I don't know, your Avatarness." I was right, Zuko denied everything, but he put up a good point. Katara agreed.

"Well, I suppose that is kind of true. I mean, we figured out your connection to the Spirits through that village we helped, and we didn't know anything about the Avatar State until we went to General Fong's Base, and no one knew you could control it until Appa found that Guru. It would be fair to say that there could be something else we don't know about that is only accessed that way." Katara spoke hesitantly, but logically, seemed proud of all that Aang had been through.

"I suppose we can call that line finished then."Sokka said, less upset, more businesslike.

"So, get with the bonding Katara, that way, we know we'll win!" I whispered in Katara's ear, and I'm guessing she blushed, and then she shoved me. I just laughed.

**Katara's POV: **Toph was just kidding, but, you know, she was right. I had put it off too long. So I walked over to the front of the saddle, and went to Aang.

"Hey, Aang, can we talk, a bit?" I tried to be discreet, but there I was blushing like hell, which was asking for attention, or, if I was blushing half as much as I thought I was, it would be more like demanding it, so I turned my back to the others, and looked only at Aang. And boy, Aang sure was something to look at. I blinked a bit just to keep myself from staring.

"Sure, Katara, but can we go somewhere, where we wouldn't have an entire audience first?" He directed his gaze at Toph, Sokka, and Zuko, then blushed ever so slightly. I nodded, and just looked down, wishing now that I had hair in front of my face, like Toph, or at least something to hide my massive blush. We moved off the saddle onto the top of Appa's head.

I needed to start, just to hold myself back. "That kiss..." Aang was now blushing too, he looked down.

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't want things to get weird between us, it's just... that kiss was..."

"Wow!" I didn't realize I had interrupted him until it was out of my mouth. He just looked kind of surprised.

"It was wow?" He asked me, with, was that hopefulness? Suddenly my brain turned off and babble mode ensued.

"There was wowfullness!" I realized what I said and panicked. "Unless, there wasn't supposed to be, like it was a friend gesture and I messed it up, or a fluke, and you didn't mean to, and now you're trying to say just friends and I'm telling you I was wowed and now our friendship is ruined and we can never just be friends because of that kiss and my stupid mouth, and..." I felt myself blabbering and then Aang interrupted me.

"Katara..." But I prepared myself for a huge fall.

"Yes?" I miserably whimpered.

"Just shut up!"

And he kissed me. And it was an on purpose kiss, so I kissed back, moaning slightly into it. Our mouths opening and closing at the same time. My heart was racing, this was incredible! I couldn't believe this was happening! The kiss just deepened and deepened, and the rest of the world fell away. When I finally recognized the need for air, I regretfully pulled back, Aang whimpered a little at my pulling away.

"Let's get this clear for me; this is a very flukeless, totally on purpose kiss, right?" Aang laughed quietly and smiled in return, tucking a strand of my loose hair out of my face.

"One hundred percent on purpose! I can't tell you how much I love your 'stupid mouth'" He found my hand and lightly squeezed it. His warm hand calming my shaking, cold one.

"Ok… good!... Just checking!" And I kissed him again.

It felt like hours we were there, kissing each other, although it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. After that, we just lay down and watched the clouds, my head lay on his shoulder, and he'd look down to kiss me about every ten seconds. I was at complete bliss, thanking the spirits for him somehow liking me too. But we both knew it couldn't last forever. I just wished it had been later rather than the inevitably sooner that happened when we were interrupted by Toph. I was so happy that she couldn't see up here, because if she could, I'd be eating crow with her 'I told you so's' and be in deep hock, owing her many details. I don't think my annoying mouth would be able to be kept shut!

"Twinkle Toes, Sugar Queen, get ready for a fight, cuz, according to Sokka, we're here!" Aang shuffled to bring Appa down inconspicuously while I looked up to see every one tensing up the way we do before any battle. We all hopped off Appa, and Zuko clumsily toppled off Appa's tail, I bit the urge to laugh at him. Zuko looked the most concerned, and I'm positive I heard him mumble something.


	6. Nostalgia

**Disclaimer: Tonight I am planning a maniacal takeover of Avatar, and by tomorrow it'll be mine! ALL MINE!! But not yet. _sigh._**

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Chapter 6: Nostalgia

**Zuko's POV: **Aang and Katara went to talk on Appa's head. I smiled knowingly. Hopefully that talk goes well, and I would bet anything that Katara 'wasn't going to be disappointed.' Although I should probably keep Sokka away from possibly walking in on the conversation, so I leaned in to talk to Toph and Sokka. Sokka asked a question first, and, although I knew it would definitely keep him away from Katara and Aang, I didn't want to talk about it, but I kind of had to.

"Hey Zuko, to truly be part of the group, we need to know everything about you. So, can we ask you some personal stuff?" Ooh, wasn't expecting that, but I guess it might help them to trust me.

"Only if I can ask you things in return." Sokka had to think about it for a minute. His eyes turned to Toph and silently asked me if I would talk about past and present crushes. I responded with shaking my head once. He seemed easier.

"Fine, but we start!" I knew there was a catch. "Where did you get that scar?"

Whoa, wasn't expecting him to start out with that one. Well, a blunt question deserves a blunt answer. "My Dad gave it to me." Sokka, who was eating an apple at the time, almost choked on it, after he cleared his throat and responded.

"What!? Why! When!? Why!?" It looks as if I hit a sensitive spot. It could just be because of his obvious hate for the Fire Lord, or maybe he could have a Dad thing too. I didn't know which one!

"Four excellent questions!" Sokka grinned at my response, but Toph was quick to get to the point.

"They are, so why don't you answer them!" I nodded, and went into story mode.

"Well, when I was thirteen, my father was holding a war meeting. I was so excited and wanted to go in to study war techniques, I had recently been told I was going to be the next Fire Lord, so I wanted to learn as much as I can. The guard wouldn't let me in, so I asked my Uncle to vouch for me. He did, reluctantly, but told me not to say a word. One general made a plan to attack a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion with entirely new recruits, mainly young boys, while a more experienced squad attacked from behind. I lost my temper and yelled at his plan, telling him he couldn't betray those boys. Well, for speaking up, my father got very angry, and the only way to solve it was an Agni Kai."

"Because, y'know, all us Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe people know exactly what that is!" Toph remarked. I just mentally slapped myself.

"It's like a Fire Duel, usually used to settle disputes. I thought I was fighting the old general who could barely walk, because I dishonored him by rejecting his plans so I accepted. Only, it turned out, since I had spoken out in my father's War Room, I was forced to fight him. Now, at that time, I idolized my father, so I begged him to forgive me, I was on my knees, crying. He just 

walked towards me ordering me to fight for my honor, saying it was to teach me respect. Respect my ass! When I wouldn't fight him, he said I had to learn, one way or the other, and that suffering would be my teacher, and he burned me on my face and banished me, saying I could only return with honor if I captured the Avatar."

Sokka and Toph were just speechless for a moment, I looked down. I remembered that day all too well. I fingered my scar. It was rough, toughened, and nostalgic. I had moved past my Father though, he was a thing of the past. Just a bad memory and I had disowned him. I admitted to myself, when I was yelling at him, I couldn't think of anything ever feeling more right.

"What a bastard and a half!" Toph blurted out. "Now I REALLY want Aang to kick his ass!"

Sokka finally found his voice. "Who could do that, to his own kid? His only son? Who would just leave him and have him make his own way in the world, with no one to rely on. Who could just leave him behind like that!?" He sounded almost as disgusted as I felt.

"A monster."

Then I saw it. A single tear almost escaped his eye, before he choked it back and rubbed his face. That which confirmed my thoughts on him having his own Dad conflict.

"My turn then?" Sokka composed himself, then nodded a reply. I decided not to beat around the bush. "Okay, what's your parent story? I can tell you have one." I said it calmly, which is the opposite of how Sokka and Toph reacted. Sokka almost choked on his apple again, Toph flinched, and tightened her hands into fists. So, they both had a story!

"Who are you asking?" Toph said, as calmly as one could while speaking through gritted teeth.

I thought for a minute. "Both of you!" I finally answered. They both groaned. "But Sokka first." Another groan from Sokka, a little sigh of relief from Toph.

"Fine." Sokka grumbled. "Almost three years ago, the Fire Nation Navy attacked our Tribe. During the siege, we were completely helpless because we had no waterbenders, so all we could do was run while the men in our tribes fought. It was a fruitless battle though, soon, they were forced to run too. Katara was eleven, and her powers had just manifested, but if the Fire Nation knew that, they would do something awful to her, so we hid her. I tried to fight a bit, but Gran Gran scooped me up, and hid me too. We saw our Mom running for the tent, but a firebender found her first, and, well, he tried to rape her. She was so brave, she kicked him in the groin and started to get up and run again, but he had armor on and recovered quickly, and he killed her. Our family became a mess, Katara, who was closest to Mom, somehow, took on all the responsibility in the house as mother. I don't know how she did it. But one night, I woke up to hear her crying in bed. I came in, got into her enormous sleeping bag and calmed her down. Only a few weeks later, my Dad, who I was closest to, had to leave, along with all the men in our village. They were going to fight in the war, and I wanted to go with him, but he insisted that I needed to stay here, and protect my sister. He also put me in charge of the village. For almost three years, that was all I could think about, 'till we met Aang, and then you. Anyway, just after 

the events in Ba Sing Se we met up with my Father in Chameleon Bay as we planned for the invasion. Then we split up again, and went deeper into the Fire Nation undercover. Then, after the failed invasion, we had to leave him and all of our Tribe while they got captured." Now it was my turn to be slightly speechless.

No wonder he hated me, and my Nation's guts. Hell, right now, I'm hating my, and the Fire Nation's guts. First we rape his Mom, and then we kill his Mom, put his sister through hell, take away his father so they have no clue if he's alive or dead for almost three years, then they finally have a window of hope to end this kind of suffering, and I come along and start trying to take that away! I was such an awful person. Thank the Spirits I'm different now.

Sokka speaks up again. "All these years, the only thing I've ever wanted is to…"

I cut him off, finishing his sentence without realizing it. "Make my father proud."

"Yeah." Sokka and I share a guy moment. It says everything, in my eyes, I apologize for all the hell I put him through, in his, he forgives me.

The connection breaks. I honestly think I am having a repeat of Ember Island. I look at Toph expectantly. She doesn't say anything. Oh yeah… she's blind, no wonder she can't see my look.

"Your turn Toph." I heard a distinct ugh before she started.

"Well, I was born blind. My parents were upset about it and immediately became overprotective of me. They kind of kept me a secret from the rest of the world except for the guards and Master Yu, who was supposed to be my earthbending teacher. Yeah, right. After five months of 'this is how you breath' and 'earthbending means you are able control rocks and dirt' I stopped paying attention, I had mastered breathing a long time ago. So one day, I ran away and hid in the cave… wait, you know that part. Anyway, fast forward to me first trying to get into Earth Rumble 6. I made it in, and because I could feel vibrations, I was invincible. Then I start leading double lives, submissive, weak, helpless Lady Toph Beifong, and strong, invincible, admired, earthbender Toph, the Blind Bandit. I had a few slip ups along the way, but things finally were getting easy for me. Then Sokka, Katara, and Aang beat me at the Earth Rumble 6. Humiliated, I went back home, then, he found me at home, and we talked, and I ran away to join Aang, and…" Sokka cut off Toph.

"Wait, you ran away? I thought you said your Dad changed his mind?"

"I did. I lied because I… I guess I didn't want to think about it. Well, in Ba Sing Se, the note from my Mom was a trap, set by Master Yu, and Shin Fu, the host of Earth Rumble 6. The morons trapped me in a metal cage and just drove away with me. Apparently, my Father hired them to bring me home. So, it was there where I learned to metalbend. And stuck them in that cage they stuck me in. Recently, I sent a letter to them, but they haven't responded. I think they hate me."

I thought about Toph's life, she had it rough. Every one of us did. We just kind of sat for a 

while. Sokka looked like he realized something. He spoke up.

"Hey, we pretty much told you our life story, we want to hear more about you, all we really know about is that one day!" I nodded, it seemed fair, even though I kinda knew he was just trying to get information out of me.

"Ok, fine I guess I owe you that much. Pretty much, Azula was even twisted as a kid. She excelled me at everything, and my Father adored her, he was proud of her, I was always a disappointment to him, but not to my Mother. To her, I was the favorite. Then one day my cousin died, soon after that, he lost the siege on Ba Sing Se. When he was coming back home, my father asked my Granddad if he could take over Uncle's birthright. Granddaddy was furious, and commanded him to kill me. He was going to do it, but my mother found out and suggested some kind of plan so my father could become Fire Lord, and my life was spared. Well, that plan also went by the name of treason, so, after he listened to her, he banished her. She was the only thing holding Azula back from being totally evil to me, so after my best friend, and Mother had disappeared, Azula could release hell on me, while I was in a really crappy state. I continued idolizing my Father, but then, there was no comforting mother to pick me up when I fell. That's why I grew close to my uncle. He was the only one there for me, and I loved him for that. I owed him so much, and then I betrayed him, in one moment of the prospect of making my father proud. And it wasn't even real. I'm an asshole. I need to repay him, I need to save him. And hope he'll accept me."

Sokka peered over his shoulder and a small smile played on his face. "You're gonna have your chance, we're here. Toph, you get Aang and Katara, they'll pull Appa down."

I saw the look on Sokka's face, looking longfully and worriedly over to the earthbender sarcastically telling Aang to land.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. She's an incredible bender!"

"I know, but I'll still worry. I think I always will."

He snapped out of his gaze and started to inspect his sword.

I also turned and stared at the small Fire Nation town. Tao Ra was a beautiful, rural town; I can see why my Uncle chose here to hide in. I felt the bison beneath me suddenly drop; it was a steep drop, very unlike my first ride to the Sun Warrior Ruins. Instinctively, I grabbed the saddle behind me. Toph turned to me after I nervously grunted.

"You don't like flying either."

"I guess it's an acquired taste." I responded nervously; trying not to upset any one.

"Yeah, it's one that I have trouble picking up!"

Then there was a muffled trump, and every one jumped to the ground. I rolled off the Bison's tail, nodding back to it, thanking him for helping me save my uncle.

"Don't worry Uncle, I'm coming for you!" I mumbled to myself before I fingered my swords. I herded the group, then started running when I saw an immense number of the army approaching a small tea shop, Azula was leading the pack.


	7. Battle in the Tea Shop

**Right now, I want to thank my most devoted reader; Empress of Pudding. You rox my sox! I love you!**

**(Hey, if anyone else wants recognition, they need to add the story to their Subscriptions and review!)**

**Disclaimer: In an alternate universe somewhere else in the 6th dimension, I do, in fact, own Avatar... but not in this one.**

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Chapter 7: Battle in the Tea Shop

**Toph's POV:** Luckily, the teashop was near the edge of the city. If it wasn't, we'd be in for a hell of a run right before the hell of the battle. I think every one preferred just one hell today. When we got to the corner right before the tea shop I stopped everyone to feel what we were dealing with. I had to gape at her influence though. I felt about 50 Dai Li agents, about the same about of non-bending soldiers with spears and such, and over 150 firebenders. I could tell who because of how they held themselves. Well, we might as well start on the advantage. I made a massive earth shift, knocking over the entire posse. We saw Iroh come out cautiously to see what was going on. As soon as he saw Azula, he sprung into a ready position. We jumped in too, the battle started.

Aang obviously started fighting Azula. He was probably the most skilled, and best suited to fight her. After I felt Iroh wink at Zuko, and Zuko return the smile, they hopped in to start fighting the man Dai Li and several firebenders. Sokka whipped into fighting too, he handled the non benders, slowly, but surely taking each of them out. He was so brave and strong. I couldn't help but feel proud. But I didn't have time for that; Ty Lee was with Azula also, of course. Katara and I had to keep her at bay, because we didn't have any fighters to spare.

"Katara, stream!" I yelled to her, but she had already seen the river near the shop, and knew what to do. I immediately tried to create quicksand to encase Ty Lee and keep her from moving, but she was too quick and leapt out of my sight before I could do anything. She landed behind me, and I had about a split second to react before I lost control of my bending, possibly also my body. I sunk into the earth before she could touch me.

I felt her turn towards Katara, who was creating ice disks and daggers. Ty Lee was dodging. She was far enough away, so I popped up and aimed some rock cuffs at her; sadly she saw me coming and jumped to the top of a nearby house.

I smiled. It was a brick house. I made the chimney next to her collapse. She fell with a shout. Oh that scream! It was high pitched and loud. With new added longness! I felt dizzy. Katara was quick at trapping her legs in ice casings. She just smirked and threw something on it. Oh crap! She has salt, lots of it! The ice melted quickly, and the dodging continued.

Around me, I vaguely felt Aang and Azula fighting. Aang was doing well. Azula felt frazzled and I couldn't sense any major bruises or scratches on him. But I did hear him breathing hard, and erratically. He was wearing thin too.

Sokka was fighting with the non-benders. And he was owning them so bad! Out of the 50 I felt before the battle, almost 25 of them were on the ground, weaponless and unconscious.

Iroh and Zuko were fighting the nameless firebenders and Dai Li, and were doing incredible. About 55 firebenders were out cold, the Dai Li, however, were being stubborn and not one of them had yielded to our two fiery friends. I still had to congratulate Sparky later. I was listening to Zuko and Iroh. Throughout their entire fight, they were talking and catching up.

"So, how did you bust out?"

"All it took was some fire, and some strength. Anyone with half a brain could figure it out."

"Warden Poon didn't notice?"

"I said half a brain, not one eighth!" I smiled, same old Iroh. "I see you found two new masters."

"Ran and Shao were really good teachers! I still missed you though!"

"You also became a Master?"

"I won't be able to teach him lightning; you'll need to do that."

"If you try it, I think you'll find that you take over that well!"

"What!?" I just felt Iroh smile. Then I felt Zuko doing some interesting, and complex moves. Suddenly, the earth surged with this force, and 20 more firebenders hit the drink. I was slightly overwhelmed by the immensity of power that charged the earth. It was dizzying. I guessed it was Zuko's lightning.

I was so overtaken by the surge of vibrations that the lightning fed; I almost didn't notice Ty Lee sneak up behind me. Almost. The instant I felt her behind me, I dodged over to next to Katara. Before we had time to move at all, Ty Lee was blasted into a tree. She was caught by surprise, and barely had time to react to the upcoming tree.

I immediately knew it was Aang. I felt towards Azula, and was a bit surprised to see Zuko fighting her, alone. Last time all of us fought her together, she creamed him. Now he was doing more than holding his own.

Katara and I were grateful to be free of Ty Lee, and focused on the Dai Li and firebenders with Iroh. Katara seemed more comfy fighting firebenders, and I was fine with earthbenders.

**Katara's POV: **With the river nearby, no one was a match for my water whips, waves, daggers, disks, and anything else I could think of throwing. From the way we were taking down this mini army, we were about 2/3's of the way done with this battle, minus Azula and Ty Lee.

In the background, I could see Ty Lee flipping and dodging, and twirling over everything and anything to get away from Aang, but, thanks to his airbending, he was able to control her more, and outdo all of Ty Lee's flips. I was so proud of him.

I had taken out about 25 firebenders, and Toph had taken out 30 Dai Lee. Iroh was on a roll near us, he had just taken down fifteen firebenders and twenty Dai Lee.

Sokka had finished taking down all of the non-benders, and was now scuffling with a Dai Li agent.

Zuko was fighting with Azula, and it looks as if he was winning! Last time we fought, it was quite the other way around.

I heard a huge whoosh, and Aang had trapped Ty Li in an air cage. That was a huge win for us if he could hold it up. It's not like it takes strength to keep it up, it's just that now people would be shooting at him even more. After a few more resounding thuds, all the Dai Li, firebenders, and soldiers were down; it was just Azula, and Ty Lee, who right now, couldn't move her fingers, let alone arms!

Azula tried to push us back, but she knew she was cornered. I smirked at her. She had to surrender now! And yet, she didn't. She started to create lightning, and aimed it directly at Aang. I shouted at him, and just in time, he created a huge rock wall that absorbed the energy of the lightning, but destroyed itself in the purpose.

Azula accomplished what she wanted. Ty Lee was free and, before we knew it, both Zuko and Iroh were down. She flipped towards Sokka and Aang, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, Toph knew the angle of her bounce and created a rope of sand that dragged her to the ground. As soon as her body hit the earth, she was bound tightly with several layers of rock. Toph had done her job well.

**Sokka's POV:** Aang, Katara, and I continued fighting Azula, but Toph froze for a second.

"We need to get out of here! There are about 700 firebenders, 300 Dai Li, and 200 soldiers coming to the Prissy Princess's aid right now!" Toph earthbended the Morse message to us all. The small rumbles under every one's feet was more than enough of a hint. Aang swirled his body a few times and effortlessly picked up Zuko and his Uncle with airbending, and tossed them into the brush, which just so happened to be where Appa was hiding.

We all ran to Appa while Aang held off Azula for a bit, then at the last second, he did a complex jump and landed on the back of Appa's saddle.

"Yip yip!! Let's go!" Aang shouted, the bison slowly took off, not used to the weight of Iroh.

What we didn't know at the time was that a Dai Li who had woken up had just freed Ty Lee, and at Azula's command, she flipped onto Appa's leg, and was slowly climbing up, trying to get to Aang.

Only I noticed her right underneath the saddle, with a good shot at Aang. She had jumped, in attempts to pull Aang to the ground. At the last possible second, my body jumped in her way and intercepted. I threw her off Appa, making us safe, but she had dragged me down with her. I fell right at Azula's feet. Luckily, we were fairly low down, and I hadn't broken anything. I heard my sister scream from above me. And Appa came down.

What are they doing!! I could already see the small army forming to capture Aang, and our old buddies we took out a few minutes ago had finished with their power nap. They would be 

committing suicide by trying to get me!

"Aang!! What are you doing!? Go back!!"

"Not without you!" Aang sounded determined, but even if we had the Avatar State, it wouldn't be enough with four people. I felt Azula binding my wrists in the chains meant for Iroh. She shoved my neck down.

"DAMN IT AANG!! You do this now and we've lost!! I'm not much compared to the world!! Get everyone else to safety! I'm not the first one to be captured, but if you get out of here now, I might be the last!! GO!!" I was begging him; Azula was tightening her grip on me with each word.

Appa stopped in midair. Aang was considering what I'd said! Thank the spirits. He was just out of shooting reach, but not quite out of shouting reach! I heard Katara speak next.

"AANG!! MY BROTHER!!" She sounded like she was crying. My heart broke.

"Don't worry Katara. I'll be fine! Now go!" My voice cracked and I felt my cheeks get wet. They needed to leave! I couldn't stand the doom of the world be on me.

"We'll come back for you! I promise!" Aang sounded choked too, I hadn't even heard Toph.

"Only after you win the war! Only after it's safe. NOW GO DAMN IT!!"

I heard a choked up 'yip yip' and thankfully saw Appa fly away. I was so relieved. But it only lasted a moment. Azula threw me to the ground violently. Ty Lee jumped over, and insured I wouldn't try to run away. I was blindfolded, then dragged painfully to a cold metal ship, then dragged down several stairs, then thrown into a cold thing that I assumed a cell. A guard stood menacingly at the door.

"Welcome home!" He growled.

I shivered in fear.


	8. Pain Inside and Out

**Disclaimer: My maniacal takeover failed, so I am left... here... not owning Avatar. _Sniff!_**

**Enjoy! (New character that you will learn to HATE!!)**

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Chapter 8: Pain Inside and Out

**Sokka's POV:** I was dragged to my cell, literally, and thanks to Azula's little groupie, Ty Lee I've been rendered incapable of moving any of my limbs. But Azula wanted to keep me awake for all of it. I knew exactly what she wanted when she came into my cage. I could see her smirk at the sight of my limp, hopeless body dangling by my wrists. They had put my wrists in chains that hung from the ceiling. The sadistic bitch just smiled a twisted grin, then she tried the sickening good soldier/bad soldier routine. Her sympathetic voice almost made me gag.

"Poor poor boy! You look scared, and upset. You miss your family? Your sister, your best friend… all you have to do is answer one question and you can go free with your whole family, and most of your friend, just tell me where to find the avatar, and I would…" I had to cut her off, her voice was killing me. I had an immediate need to hit her, right as soon as she mentioned Katara, Toph, and Aang. Could she even think for a second I would betray someone who was like a little brother to me, even for a second?

"Go to hell!" I spat at her. I hoped my disgust showed. She just smirked again.

"Very well, but before I go, I might as well drag you down to visit! After all, that must be what you want!" She turned to leave, but stopped at the door. Without turning around, she spoke again. "By the way, meet Hisato, he is your guard, he has been instructed to come and speak to you after each of our conversations, and whenever you are misbehaving. You'll find he is quite the intellectual in what he has been trained for. I'll leave you to discover that. Good day." And the bitchy princess left.

Hisato walked up to me, fully armored, with something behind his back. I knew some type of physical punishment was going to ensue. I needed to lighten the mood.

"So, 'Sato… what's up? I can call you Sato, right?"

"Silence."

He had walked behind me, where I couldn't see him. But I heard the silence of the dry air being cut by something that sounded a lot like Fire Nation tough leather. Not the soft, loose kind of leather that people sometimes wore, tough, rough, whip-like leather that was often used for breaking Komodo Rhinos, and other fierce creatures like Badgermoles, and that large Shirshu that once tracked us down. The scary woman was using a whip similar to that. Only this one sounded harder. Then my shirt was ripped off of me, and discarded uselessly somewhere else in the small room. They were going to give me the full blow.

I waited for the cracking sound, and the distinct sting of pain, but it didn't come immediately, first I heard a fwooshing sound that usually came just before firebenders started attacking us. I gasped, realizing what he was going to do. He was setting the whip on fire, and I don't think fire burns away leather like it does rope. It just burns.

At the first whip, I gasped in pain and shock. I needed to bite my lip to keep from shouting 

mercy all the way to the Spirit World! My eyes watered, but I held back tears, I needed to be strong. I was getting feeling and movement back. But I continued to droop there in pain. Any movement would be greeted with shocks of pain from my back, both from my charred skin and from my bruised and sore muscles. The chains holding my wrists came undone, but my legs were surprisingly still jelly-like. I crumpled to my knees. Tears came streaming down my face.

Each lash came harder and harder. Blood started to spill lightly, but more and more as they got harder. Suddenly, without warning, he violently kicks my shaking body, so I am being supported on my destroyed back. My eyes widen. The whip was huge, and the flames were glowing off it.

He wasn't done, I realized. I gulped, now I was going to be forced to watch as he maimed by shaking body.

The burning leather came down hard on my bare, vulnerable chest. It became black, charred, scarred. Blood started to spill down, and I soon found myself lying in a small pool of my own blood. Hisato kicked me violently, and I fell to my side. He smugly walked out.

Only after his back was turned to me, did I allow myself to cry. I let out everything that I was forced to keep bottled up since I had been dragged to this hellhole. Everything I could think of: losing my sister, my metaphorical little brother, having to yell at them to go away, being thrown in here, having someone try and force me to betray my family, being horribly, and cruelly beaten, and losing Toph. Oh spirits, Toph! Her face was the only thing keeping me here, keeping me sane. The memories of us goofing off, and talking, fighting together, and sometimes scamming fire nation nobles out of all the money they had on them. Those were the memories I had held close to my heart.

Aang knew how dangerous it was to try and come back for me. It was too dangerous; this was the world we were talking about. I had shoved this knowledge into Aang's stubborn head, to ensure he, or any of the others didn't do anything stupid. They knew they couldn't risk trying to save me until after the war.

I just thought of something. Something that hadn't occurred to me before; I was going to die in here. That cut me deeper than any of my whip wounds. I would never get to see my baby sister grow up into the strong, incredible, brave, beautiful woman that I knew she would become, and that she was already becoming.

I would never see Aang either; the monk I thought of as my brother. I would never see him as he mastered each element, see the pride on his face as he did the near impossible. I would never get to see him before the final battle, or after for that matter. I'll never see him standing tall and proud at the world that he had just freed, accomplishing everything we've worked to achieve.

Zuko was quickly becoming a close friend too. I would miss his coronation of him being crowned Fire Lord after Aang's great battle. I wouldn't get to see him as he took Mai to be his Fire Lady, I was positive that was going to happen, by the way they look at each other.

I was going to break my promise to Dad, of saying we'd come back together soon. I would never 

see him again either. I thought of every one I knew. Everyone I was letting down, everyone who I'd never see again, never thought I'd think of again, but are suddenly now. Everyone I had met since I started my incredible journey with Aang flashed in my mind, and then everyone before that.

Then I thought of Toph, and my heart broke. I was never going to see her again. I could never tell her how much she meant to me, how much I cared for her. I could never say how much she helped ease my pain over Yue when she joined the group and over Suki when we found Azula posing as her. She was always there to cheer me up, have fun with, mess around with, get into trouble with, and sometimes bring me down with her sarcastic comments. I would never have the chance to tell her how I was quickly falling in love with her.

The pain was too heavy to bear, both the physical, and emotional. And I imagined Toph and I, laughing and having a fun time, just before I slipped into darkness.

**Katara's POV: **I kept replaying my brother's words over and over again in my mind. No matter how many ways I looked at it, it didn't seem fair. He was probably waiting in some tiny cell, taking the beating for shoving Aang out of Azula's clutches. He was taking the beating for the world. It didn't seem fair. He shouldn't be worrying about the world. He is fifteen, and is already putting the world before himself. Tears streaked down my face. My brother was just thrown into the clutches of a crazy, insanely evil bitch! Most of me wanted to turn around and annihilate Azula, the rest of me wanted to break down right then and there. Sokka was so strong and brave. The bravest person I know. If anyone could survive, he could. There is no chance that… I blocked that thought from my mind. Instead I turned to see how everyone else was.

No one had said anything since he forced us away. Toph was the first to break into tears. I had never seen her so unraveled, and distressed, and vulnerable. I wrapped her in a tight hug, trying to block out the world, as I started to sob too. I hadn't cried this hard since Mom had died, and I had never seen Toph cry like this at all. Maybe once or twice, a tear or two escaped her eyes, never more. Now she had fallen apart. She was sobbing horrendously; I just kept hugging her, and rocking back and forth, in attempts to calm her down. After several minutes, I noticed that she had cried herself to sleep. I laid my friend's body down on Appa, then scooted over to the front of the saddle to where Aang was.

He was Sokka's best friend to the point of a brotherly bond between the two. Tears had also streaked down his face, and he was violently shaking out of anger and grief. I hugged him too, wanting to take away all his grief. He hugged me back, seemingly trying to do the same exact thing. For that I was so grateful. I had been so busy comforting Toph, I hadn't had time to grieve myself. So I collapsed into his arms, trying to get the picture of Azula throwing him to the ground, and his words out of my head. _DAMN IT AANG! You do this now and we've lost!! I'm not much compared to the world!! Get everyone else to safety! I'm not the first one to be captured, but if you get out of here now, I might be the last! GO! _I don't know how he could say that. He was my world. For years now I have been both a caring mother, and sister to him, and he has been there, my brother who has always played a protective, caring, fatherly role too. He would always make me laugh or smile, or calm me down when I got worked up. He'd always there to protect me from the harshness of the world, while he would take all the blows for me. 

The world hurt, I don't see how he did it. Now that he was gone, all the world fell on me, including his capture. That was the heaviest burden to bear.

I turned my body slightly to look around us. Uncle Iroh was steering. He seemed to know where we were hiding, because he was in the right direction. Every so often he looked over to Toph, who was still asleep. She had streak marks on her face from crying. She looked upset, even in her dreams, and she kept tossing and turning. Zuko said nothing, just looking over Appa's saddle, back to where we had come from. I had never seen such fury. It was that look in his eyes that finally convinced me he'd changed. I looked back up to Aang. He had light streaks down his face too, not as defined as Toph's, but still visible, and distressing.

We were a mess. My brother was gone. I reached over and touched the handle of his sword, which he had taken off as we first tried to leave. It was still warm from his touch, and the handle had imprints where he had worn down the material with extra use. I slid my hands into that position, where his hands were supposed to be. How would I survive without my brother? He was the only person left in my family.

Suddenly, Toph jerked her body violently. Wincing and gasping in her sleep. I pulled out a bit of water and tried to sooth her, but, while the gasps and writhing stopped, she still was shuddering, and, while still asleep, began to cry again. I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. She might have already been hurt. Then again, I suppose she was. She hurt in the one place we were all hurt. And there was only one cure.

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**So... you hating Hisato now? **

**I feel really bad about what I did to Sokka... and what I'm going to do to Sokka. _I'M A BAD PERSON! SOB!!_**

**Ok... better now! I'll update soon.**


	9. Dealing

**Disclaimer: YES, I OWN AVATAR... except that I don't.**

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Chapter 9: Dealing

**Toph's POV:** Dreaming isn't always fun. Especially not when you're grieving. I was rehearing everything Sokka had said while he was being captured, and my mind pulled out vibrations and mental images of everything we had been through together. Then I remembered how Jet was slowly dying, but my mind put Sokka in his place and instead of Long Feng stepping out of a stance, Azula was, cackling as I tried to do something, choking on tears. I could feel in the dream that he wasn't dying; he was just being slowly tortured. I woke up screaming. Katara, who had fallen to sleep, I think in Aang's lap, sat bolt upright. I was just crying letting new streaks of tears join the old ones. Katara scooted over to me and hugged me, asking what was wrong.

"They're torturing him! I don't know how I know, but I can feel it. They're torturing him." And it was true. I knew it. Something in my gut told me it wasn't a dream.

I heard Katara pull in a short intake of breath. Everyone looked at me. Katara started to whimper.

"How do y…" Aang started to ask me.

"I DON'T KNOW!!" How was Aang missing the point? I turned away from everyone, especially Aang, and continued to cry as I pretended to look out, over the saddle, hoping they would forget that I'm blind for a minute and just ignore me. Wait, only Sokka continually forgot that I was blind. No one else does that. I started to sob again, this time, into my arm to hide the tears from every one's view.

After thirty minutes, we were back at the temple. I ran into my room as quickly as my tiny legs would allow me, and collapsed to my bed. Using earthbending to shut, and lock the door from anyone wanting to come in. A giant rock wall would definitely be a hint that says 'do not disturb.'

**Mai's POV: **As soon as I heard the bison landing I ran out of my room and towards the fountain, which is where Appa always lands. Most of every one was gone, but Aang was still there, caring to Appa, and there was Zuko, and his Uncle was with them!

I smiled and ran over to give him a hug, but he still seemed grim. I noticed that Uncle and Aang seemed upset too. Almost depressed, and definitely sad.

"Who died?" I asked in a slightly joking matter, a small laugh in my voice. No one responded for a moment, then I got really scared. "Oh spirits! Who died?!" This time I said it, I was deathly scared.

Zuko refused to look up at me. Iroh just looked towards the ground. Even Aang, who was tending to Appa had suddenly stiffened and looked down. The saddle that Aang was keeping in the air with airbending fell. Finally Zuko spoke up.

"It's Azula…" I immediately stiffened up. My former friend was a ruthless person. She could have hurt someone with no remorse. "She captured Sokka. Ty Lee climbed up on Appa as we 

were trying to fly away. She tried to knock Aang off so Azula could capture him. Sokka was the only one who noticed, and intervened and pushed Ty Lee off Appa, but she took Sokka down with her."

My eyes must have bugged out of my head. I heard a gasp, and I realized it was mine. I put my arms around Zuko in comfort, I remember that they were just starting to become friends. I saw a single tear come down his cheek. I just hugged him tighter. Azula had gone too far.

It's what she always does; goes over the edge, like she always does with capturing. I remembered that one warrior girl that we took the dress, uniform things from. She sent her into the Fire Nation Prison that's on the island just next to Ember Island. It was especially for torture. She gave her only sacs to wear, and would love to come in just to cut her with her own weapons. Her favorite was her metal fans that are sharpened to axe-like knives at the tips. She would continually cut her with those, especially cut her on her back and arms, and legs.

I visited her once. Ty Lee and I always went in and cleaned up Azula's torture patients when she didn't know it. It had become a sport/hobby of ours. We had to help Azula's prisoners without running into guards who'd tell Azula, or Azula herself. We became experts. We often became friendly with them, but some hated us, so we helped those people when they slept. I helped that girl a bit. I always cleaned up her cuts after Azula left, and I even smuggled in some nicer clothes once. It was just some old clothes that I had. The colors were faded to brown and were slightly ripped, but I guess that was probably better because she had to wear it under the potato sack Azula made her wear. At least it was nicer than having a sack against your skin. I remember Ty Lee didn't want to get near her, she had heard that the warrior girl had gone out with Sokka, who she had a crush on. I wonder if Ty lee would help Sokka. I hoped so.

I should have helped. I can use lightning. I could have hit Azula, and Aang could've grabbed him, and…" Zuko was so upset. I hugged him as tightly as I could without becoming a threat to his lungs.

"It's not your fault! Plus, Appa didn't look as if he was shot at, so she was out of shooting distance, meaning you were too! Sokka will be ok. We'll go to save him when we can. Right now, the most important thing you can do is train Aang as hard as possible, so he can be as ready as possible for when you do break him out!" I hoped I was saying the right thing. Then, I thought of something else, or, some one. Toph!

I didn't want to, but I forced myself to pull away from Zuko. Right now, my first priority was to find Toph and comfort her. I started walking quickly to her room

"Where are you going?" Zuko called back to me. I forgot.

"I need to find Toph and see if she's ok." I was unsure if I could tell him, but I didn't want him to question me, I had to tell him. "Tell anyone, or tell anyone I told you and we are both dead, but Toph really, really likes Sokka. In that way. I can bet she will be devastated." I waited for Zuko's reaction. A slow, and grim smile spread across his face.

"Well, we need to get Sokka back soon, just so he can hear that… because he really, really likes Toph… in that way! I'd go far enough to say love." I smiled when Zuko told me that.

"I guess it's not just one way, then!" I only responded by quoting the KP, which is what we've started calling Katara's Prophesy. I frowned, that was Sokka's idea. We had all agreed that it was a good name. Apparently, he had been getting better with names. Toph told me that once, when he was stuck in a hole, he met a baby Saber Tooth Moose Lion, and he gave it the most ridiculous name. Toph almost always talked about him, not like I was grilling her for information anyway. I hoped she was doing okay.

I came to her door and gently swung it open, but all I came to was a rock wall. I didn't buy that. I took out a large knife I had, and made medium sized cuts to make a small hole in the wall. I kicked it open, and came in to see the small earthbender, sitting up curiously in her bed, covers wrinkled, with clearly defined tear streaks coming down her cheeks. Her hair had fallen out of the traditional bun and her headband had fallen out of her hair, I spotted it wrinkled up near a bunch of covers. Her clothes were wrinkled too, and the whites of her eyes were bloodshot, which contrasted with her jade irises. In other words, she was a mess.

I quickly came over and enveloped my friend into a tight hug. She collapsed into a new round of tears on my shoulder. I wondered if she had ever cried this hard in her life. Somehow, I seriously doubted it.

I didn't know exactly how to react. Ty Lee never cried, she was always too perky and optimistic. Azula never cried either, but for different reasons. If someone ever pissed her off, then she would attack them, or do something unspeakably horrible to get back at them… threefold. I never had either of them crying, with me. I was used to Ty Lee's happy hugs, but I'd never dealt with grief hugs, and crying never hit into the picture. I just did what my instincts told me to do. I just rubbed her shoulders, calmingly. After a while, she had stopped crying, and she turned to me, finding her voice.

"Thanks… could you tell Katara that I'm going to miss dinner, I don't want to face any one right now." Her voice sounded raspy, and tired. I just nodded.

"Sure, no problem. I'm so sorry Toph!" She just gave me a small smile in response, although it was a grim one, without any feeling behind it. I climbed out my little hole and shut the door. I heard a sound, and guessed it was Toph, re-closing up the hole I'd made. I went to find Katara to give her the message.

I blinked as I realized how much Sokka had meant to everyone . He was the one who held everybody together. We were all going to take it hard. But at least Katara and Aang had each other, and Zuko and I had each other. Zuko also had his Uncle now, but Toph… Toph didn't have any one like that. She had Katara and I as friends, but, if I was grieving like Toph was, I'd immediately go to Zuko for comfort, because he'd always know exactly what to do. We were all going to have trouble dealing, but it looked like it'd be near impossible for Toph. But she is one of the strongest people I know, if anyone could deal, she could… right?


	10. Azula

**Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, I wouldn't be writing on Fanfiction.**

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Chapter 10: Azula

**Sokka's POV: **I woke up, and my head was throbbing. I blinked my eyes open to find myself in a cold, dark cell, with burns and cuts all over my chest and back. Suddenly all the events of the previous day came back to me. I remembered the Battle in Front of the Tea Shop, and me stopping Ty Lee from getting Aang, and falling into Azula's clutches, and me yelling at Aang to leave, and Hisato beating the crap out of me.

I groaned, and tried to sit up by pulling myself up with my hand, only I overestimated the strength of my wrists, after holding up my entire body for hours, it couldn't support me at all, and my body fell back to the cold floor, and I felt my hand land in something wet. Through the dim light, I could barely make it out, but saw that it was blood. I looked at where I'd woken up, then at my bare chest, and gulped. That was my blood!

Only, I would've expected to be much more cut up, and my burns to be more severe than they were. Did Azula send for someone to clean me up after I passed out? My instincts told me that she wouldn't do that. If she was going to torture one of the Avatar's friends, she wasn't going to worry about cleanliness; I would guess she'd want me as disgusting, filthy, and beat up as possible. Which could only leave one option; someone had done it after I fell unconscious, someone without orders, someone in secret, who was on my side. I gave a half smile, I might have a friend!

My mini smile was immediately wiped from my face as Azula strode in; Hisato followed her in like a King-Crab-Dog, blindly following its master.

"Good morning, peasant. You still have the choice of telling us where the Avatar is, or facing a punishment for being bad. You choose!" I frowned, knowing this was coming. I didn't care what she did to me; I wasn't going to betray Aang. The face I made gave her my answer, along with a shake of the head that came with a side of a glare.

"Very well. I'll give you another choice, you can receive your gift from Hisato hanging from your wrists again, or you can do it with your hands on the bars, and arm leaning on the bars too."

I glared, but knew the better of the two options. Without voicing my choice, I grimly walked to the front of the metal box and wrapped my hands around two of the bars, and pressed my arms down on them. Azula smirked as she walked over to me, and wrapped my hands and two places on my forearm, stopping me from pulling away or changing my mind.

Hisato pulled out the whip that I'd named Flameio, which happened to be the phrase that Aang used all the time when we were infiltrating the Fire Nation as Colonials.

Toph and I would always tease him about that. We would sit around the fire for hours after Katara and Aang had gone to sleep, talking and teasing each other and every one we knew. Once Toph had done a great Aang, walking around quickly just saying 'Flameio Hotman!' to every tree, bush, rock, and everything in the vicinity. I was rolling in the dirt that night in hysterics. That was the night I noticed she was just glowing. It was then that I noticed something different 

about her. I thought it was just her new clothes, which we had gotten only a few days before. But I began to notice the difference more and more, and my heart would speed u whenever I came near her. I quickly realized it wasn't the clothes, it was Toph. I realized she was beautiful.

When I named the whip Flameio, I imagined the goofy voice she used that night, pretending to be Aang. And I almost laughed.

Then I felt Flameio make contact with my back, and I wasn't smiling anymore. Azula was standing right in front of me, her hands on the same bars I was strapped to. She was watching excitedly as I writhed in pain. The whip reopened up some of my cuts, while it made new burns, and I began to bleed.

Azula was doing something too. The way she gripped the bars was unusual, almost as if she was…! I gasped, as the bars I was holding on to began to get warm. I finished my train of thought. The way she gripped the bars was almost as if she was firebending. The bars started to glow a dull orange, being heated up by Azula. They quickly turned neon orange, brighter than I've ever seen anything, even when I was making my own sword! Every fiber in my being shouted in pain, and I followed suit, screaming in agony and suffering. I collapsed to my knees.

She made a gesture with her head to tell Hisato to take over in heating up the bars while he walked to my bleeding back. I looked at my tied up hands and arms that were quickly becoming red and black. She had tied me up well; it took all my strength just to unwrap my fingers from the bars. In the back, Azula saw this, and replaced my fingers on the metal bars.

"You're trying to escape your punishment. When you're doing that, you're not learning. You're being bad." I felt her hands heat up to incredible temperatures, and I feared she was going to touch my face, but instead she moved to my blackened back.

"If you're gonna burn my back I fear you're getting a tad redundant. Are you losing your touch?" I knew I was gonna pay for that one, but I couldn't resist, it was on my mouth and coming out before I could stop it.

"Who said I was going to touch you?!" I was curious of what she was doing, my arms still screaming out to me. She just put her hot as hell hands close to my back. I felt my eyes bulge out of my head as I guessed what she was doing. And I was right too. She was trying to boiling my blood! I could feel it too, it burned and ran, hot and destructive. She just moved closer to my cuts, ignoring my shouts, and cries, and pleas. She was gonna boil the blood in my bloodstream! I shouted and begged her to stop, tears coming to my face.

"You were bad. I can stop, but only if you admit to it."

"What?" I felt my hot blood burning me from the inside, out. It was torture, and I was shaking violently. I just wanted her to stop.

"Say it." I would do almost anything for her to stop.

"I…I am b…b…bad." I stuttered out, my voice cracking under the pain.

But suddenly, the heat on the bars was cooled immensely, and Azula had backed away from me.

"Now say it again."

"I am b…bad."

"Last time." I looked at her curiously, but complied.

"I am bad."

She nodded, satisfied with hearing that. She walked out. Hisato turned to me and whipped me three times before walking out as well, and positioning himself outside my door. I know Azula is up to something, I just can't figure out what. And what was with the 'I am bad' stuff. What was that? I shuddered as I remembered how she forced me into saying it, not once… but three times. I wiped the tears out of my eyes; I had no idea how painful that would be. I hear people use the phrase 'making your blood boil' before, but I could never see it the same way again.

Just to escape my torture, I thought of memories of all my friends, especially Toph, those memories are all I had to hold on to. With those memories still playing through my thoughts I fell into a dreamless sleep.


	11. Of Knives and Acrobats

**Disclaimer: I'm running out of funny ways to say that I don't own Avatar.**

**(The above statement is true. If you can come up with some disclaimer funnies to help me along, than I'd be happy to use them... yes, you would get the credit.)**

**Anyway, on with the story... I can't believe I just said "On with the story."**

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Chapter 11: Of Knives and Acrobats

**Sokka's POV: **That same kind of torture had happened several nights ago, and has been happening the same way for the past two weeks is what it felt like. I felt myself becoming more submissive, and fearful, I have to guess it's because I'm being forced into saying that stupid mantra. But I refused to say anything about Aang. If it kills me I am going to help win this war. And from the looks of it, it will kill me.

Today, when Azula came in, she had brought Ty Lee instead of Hisato; she was also holding something that looked like one of Mai's little wooden arrow/dagger things. My eyes bugged out of my head when I remembered that it looked exactly like the one Zuko told us held a torture poison. I talked to Mai about it, and she said it only lasted about five hours, but it would be a hell of a five hours! She said it would feel like three days.

Ty Lee smiled at me sympathetically. I just glared at her, not believing that these two monsters were friends with Mai, especially Azula. The She-Devil herself turned around and smiled.

"Talk or torture."

"A little pain never hurt anyone, y'know, unless it's from you! But I can deal."

"Very well." Then she grinned wickedly, and looked at Ty Lee. "Hey, Ty Lee, where are the most sensitive parts of the body?"Ty Lee, in response, blushed, and looked down to in between my legs, then turned even redder, I gasped, and became enraged.

"Besides there, I'm not going that far just yet."

"Oh! Ok! Well, there's in between the neck and shoulder, a soft spot is there between the bones where you can dig under."

"Can you demonstrate?"

Ty Lee looked surprised at first, then walked over to me, and pointed to a soft area on my shoulder that connected the rest of my shoulder to my neck. I noticed her hand shaking slightly. Maybe Ty Lee wasn't as evil as her twisted friend.

"But where is that general pointing? Touch it, actually demonstrate!"

Ty Lee came closer to my neck, and lightly touched the area, her hand still trembling, taking great care to barely touch the skin, to make sure she didn't hurt me. I was grateful, that Azula had at least slightly benevolent friends.

Azula touched the same area in a rough, harder fashion, and I winced. She smiled wickedly, and then pulled out the wooden dagger. Then spoke. "Then this should be killer!" And she stabbed me with the torture dagger. I cried out in pain and agony! Of everything that she'd inflicted on me, this was the worst. She dug under my bone and rubbed the sharpened end into it, and I 

screamed out mercy at each scrape against my bones. She quickly pulled the knife out, and had Ty Lee clean me up.

"Stop the blood. We don't want any chance of the blood flushing the poison out!" Ty Lee ran to stop the blood with a damp cloth, and wrapped me in bandages. Then Azula got Ty Lee's attention again.

"Say, Ty Lee… that can't be the only sensitive area, where else is there?"

"Behind the left knee." Ty Lee replied bluntly, all the pep lost from her usually sugar sweet voice. She wasn't enjoying this in the least.

"Really?" She ran the poison dagger along the back of my left knee, skimming the skin. I shuttered, knowing what was coming next. She plunged the dagger in, sliding it in sideways like I was butter, me writhing, and twisting, and twitching in pain. She pulled the dagger out quicker this time. Ty Lee ran to stop the blood there too. I was surprised at how good she was at it, next best thing to a waterbending healer!

"Come now Ty Lee, there must be at least one more! Tell me the secret! Where is the most sensitive place on the body?" Ty Lee looked at my crotch again, blushing furiously. Azula noticed and rolled her eyes. "Besides down there of course!"

"Bottom of the neck, just before some one's chest. Right on top of the bone." Ty Lee replied in a monotone voice, then very lightly fingered a place right at the bottom of my neck, right below where I stopped being able to feel my neck. I suddenly felt weak.

"But that would kill him, and then where would we be? We wouldn't have information, and we couldn't even use him as bait! Well, only if we use the dagger!" She then put the dagger away in a bag, and pressed her finger into the spot, and I found it suddenly hard to breathe, let alone scream. I was gasping for air, shuddering as she pressed deeper, worming her way under my bone. I broke away from her touch, and began coughing and spitting up blood. Azula smiled as she backed away. Ty Lee moved to put some cream on my chest to ease the pain, it smelled a bit like Pacolla berries. Finally Azula motioned for Ty Lee to leave. She gathered up herself and walked out. Azula turned to me, as if to speak.

"Do you know why we have to do this to you?" She asked me cruelly. I hung my head, spat out a bit more blood, then responded.

"Because I am bad." It wasn't a question so much as a statement. Azula curtly nodded, then walked out, locking the door behind her. I sat here coughing up a bit more blood.

Then I heard Hisato, and some other guard down the hall a bit.

"Wow, she really did a number on this prisoner!"

"I heard she put up a fight! Plus, she lasted really long. She is the first one to survive an entire 

month on the Princess's medium amount of torture. Almost as strong as that other prisoner, also a teenager. Has been holding out on her hardcore torture for two weeks!"

Then I saw it. I saw Hisato and some other guard carrying a cut up, bruised, and cold body. This body was clearly dead. Then they walked past, and I saw the face. It was Suki.

Tears streamed down my face. I may not love her the same way I loved Toph, but I still cared for her deeply, and was so upset. I collapsed in a corner of my cold cell, and eventually cried myself to sleep.

**Azula's POV:** I had heard of this method before. In torture prisons, guards of a type would force prisoners to say this one line over and over again at the risk of unbelievable amounts of pain, until they started saying it on their own, and more importantly, believing it. I heard of a General who is in Ba Sing Se supporting the occupation who did this to captured rebels, using the phrase 'I am nobody' to make the rebels believe that fighting is futile. I wanted to try it, and so far, the Water Tribe peasant was responding perfectly.

But I had so much more planned for this simple boy. Soon he'll be telling us everything. Only, the one thing bothering me was that after several days of this hardcore torture, he still wasn't telling me anything. Then, an idea dawned on me. It wasn't the important that he was the Avatar's friend, but that he was an emotional boy. Not only did he have ties to the Avatar, but also to who the Avatar is as a person, not just the spirit in him. Also, the boy was friends with the Avatar's teachers, and through that I can weaken him. But first I needed to discover his Achilles Heel. And for that I needed Ty Lee.


	12. Achilles Heel

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Disclaimer: The people who own Avatar are all getting hugs today, and I'm not getting any hugs... you can put two and two together.

**(Hey, I'll give you a virtual brownie, and endless brownie points if you send me a virtual hug over the reviews!)**

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Chapter 12: Achilles Heel

**Azula's POV: **I practically dragged Ty Lee down to help me. I know she had a little crush on the poor boy, so I guessed she didn't want to see what I did to him. It was kind of endearing how she chooses to remain happily oblivious and naive to the world.

She also might have been so hard to drag is because I've been keeping her from her room. I still haven't come up with some way to put Mai's disappearance on the Avatar's fault. If Ty Lee thought the Avatar had captured her or something, she would have more fighting power in the final battle. So I've been keeping her away from her room, where she'd be sure to notice Mai's disappearance. Their bedrooms were right next to each other, and Ty Lee often just leapt across houses via bedroom windows. She'd be sure to look for her. Ty Lee didn't find it weird that she hasn't seen Mai recently because sometimes we never saw each other for days on end, so she didn't think it weird that she hadn't seen Mai all week.

We approached his cell and I saw that all of his older cuts had mysteriously healed, as well as his old burns mended to. Even though I knew that none of the burns were deep enough to scar, they were supposed to be deeper than what I saw. I pushed it away though, he was Water Tribe, and for some reason, they always heal quickly. I turned to Ty Lee.

"He should be entering, or in REM sleep right now. Send him into a dream, tell me about it, then send him into a nightmare. Then tell me about that. Make it as wonderful, then as horrifying as you can."

Ty Lee nodded, slightly upset. She began messaging and rubbing different parts of the prisoner's head. He slowly began to smile. After she had rubbed all the necessary muscles, she placed a hand over his forehead. She began to smile too. According to her, dreams are like auras in the purest form, it shows your desires, fears, nightmares, and everything in between. Recently, she said that her aura reading had been extended to walking into dreams and deciphering them if she can get close enough to touch them.

"He's in a type of field. The Avatar is there with him, and they are laughing. The Avatar is saying to him that he considers him like a brother, and he returns the sentiment. Then there's that Waterbender, she goes over and hugs him, and… Whoa! Zuko's there. I mean, I know he switched sides again, I mean, it's all over the Nation, but still… he waved to Zuko, and Zuko smiled, and waved back. Whoa! And Mai's there too! She's running over to Zuko and… oh! They're kissing… Zuko and Mai, not Mai and our dreamer, of course! And now there's that tiny little Earthbender girl. Now he is walking over to her. They are talking and laughing. And he…" I heard Ty Lee gulp, looking slightly upset, I sent her a look, knowing this was important, and she continued. "He leaned in and kissed her, and she kissed him back. I can feel pure bliss emanating off of him right now. I can feel that he l…loves her."

I smiled, this was perfect, all I needed now, was to see his greatest fears, and I would be able to manipulate his mind in any way I wanted.

"Send him into the nightmare now." I demanded to her. She looked unhappy, but obediently started again, only this time, instead of massaging his head, she was jabbing and shoving. Then, once she was finally satisfied with all of her jabs, her hand moved, once again, to his forehead.

"It looks like he is in the palace city. He is right outside your palace. And there is fighting, I think he is dreaming about the final battle. It looks like first, that waterbender is being stabbed with a sword. He is looking at her and is running to her, trying to protect her from the army. She is shaking and turning paler, and then, she dies. He goes back to the fight, teary, and the earthbender covers her in a wall of rock, then some old lady comes up, and looks as if she is controlling Mai, and making her attack the Avatar's friends, almost as if she was on their side before! Anyway, it looks as if your Father is doing something similar to Zuko, sort of like hypnotizing him with firebending, and making him fight the Avatar, sort of like in Ba Sing Se. And the Avatar doesn't want to fight him because he thinks of Zuko as a friend. Then… hey! You're there, and you are attacking them all, of course. And… oh! You shot that blind earthbender with lightning. He ran to her as she fell, and she tells him that she's dying. He cries and says he loves her, but you shove him out of the way and continually hit her with a type of whip made out of fire, and he's begging you to spare her, but you don't listen and whip her dead. Then Zuko blasts fire at the Avatar, and he dies. And he is in the center, crying, and he mentions that everyone he cares about, dies. And the Earthbender comes up in spirit, and is saying that he couldn't protect her, and that she hates him for it." Ty Lee sounded surprised. But continued. "He's coming out of REM sleep, we should get out of here, he's gonna wake up!"

I nodded as we snuck out again. Just as we were getting to the staircase, I heard him wake up shouting horrendously. I smiled. He never screamed that painfully during our little meetings. I can't believe how wrong I was going about this. People are merely slaves to their emotions, which is why I am glad I chose to discard mine, and is what makes torture so easy. So, he loves the blind earthbender… I could use that, as well as how close he is to his sister, I probably even work his brotherhood to the Avatar to my advantage if I think smart. Tomorrow would be very interesting.

**Sokka's POV: **After I woke up screaming from the nightmare, I couldn't get back to sleep. I started out with a wonderful dream; I don't know what happened to change it. If Aang's pre-invasion nightmares were half as bad as the one I just had, I totally understand his need to avoid sleep; I just hope I didn't have to go that far.

I stayed up the next two hours until what I assumed to be sunrise. Hisato threw my breakfast at me, and then the bowl. I just wiped my face, and tried so salvage part of the disgusting mush.

Azula came in about ten minutes later, with Ty lee again, instead of Hisato. I hoped she wasn't here to do what she did yesterday. Instead, Azula spoke up.

"Guess what, Water Tribe filth! Your silence was in vain, because a Dai Li agent has found your hide out. Ty Lee and I will be taking the Rhinos out to find them in a few days. We just came to preview you on what we will do." I gasped, beginning to cry, and wanting to punch Azula right there.

"No!" I couldn't help but gasp out. Azula just laughed insanely. This sadistic brute could not be related to Zuko.

"Oh yes, this is real! But just relax, and enjoy the show. Suddenly Ty Lee walked over and hit a few muscles on my head. My vision blurred, and everything just began to look maroon. And blurry too, like everything was smudged. I wasn't sure if that was because of my tears, or because of what Ty Lee did to me. Either way, I didn't like what was happening.

"I think Ty Lee will just disable the Avatar first…" Azula began, then in my mind, and my clouded vision, I saw it happening! I suddenly saw what she was doing; she was going to make me see everything she will do! Oh spirits! How much did she know? She continued as I began to panic. "Then, with him out of the way, I think I'll kill his little girlfriend next. That little waterbender… you know the one, I think she's your little sister! I will probably use a fire blade. Stick it right in her gut; slide my fiery sword through her as if she was butter. I'll enjoy watching her writhe in pain for a few moment, right before she dies. Especially after all those little annoyances she's caused me." She was grinning maliciously as she said it, I assumed. I saw it on her face as I watched the mental image Azula gave for me in horror. Who could be so cold and heartless? I remember Katara once asked me how I could be that way, now I hung my head as I realized how many people I would've left to suffer if I didn't' have such a caring sister. Now I watched as I lost her to that witch. The mental image playing over and over again, tearing me apart more and more each time.

"Then I'll take out Zuko and our Uncle, the traitors! I'll just give them each a heavy burn to the face, let it blacken their skin, and let the smoke clog and choke their lungs. That same smoke will be the actual cause of their death, lack of air. Speaking of air, the Avatar will be forced to watch his friends suffer, just like you are right now. He will be put through the same torture you're being submitted to. You see, if you had just told me where the Avatar was hiding in the beginning, I probably wouldn't have put him through nearly as much torture, if any, so let his perpetual pain be on your shoulders!" I cried as I thought of what I was doing to my friends and family. The boy I thought of as a brother was going to be put through everything I was forced into. How could I do that to him? I am bad! No one human could do that to their brother. And I watched helplessly, crying out as my friend and his Uncle began coughing and hacking up blood from the smoke, and I saw Aang being violently thrust into a cave.

"Ah, and then it'll just be me and that small earthbender… Toph, wasn't it? I will have the most fun with her, she will be my favorite toy. I know you love her. So I will give her a special treat! First I'll truly blind her, I hear she sees through her feet, so those will be easy to burn, then I'll torture her repeatedly with a fire whip, until she is at the brink of death, then, for the very last strike, I do believe lightning to the head will do it. I'll watch it blow apart, blood flying everywhere! And I'll send you her regards!" My eyes widened, then teared as the whole scene of my brave and strong love being overcome by the son of a bitch in front of me. I killed her! It was my fault she was dying like that! I killed the person I loved! Then I collapsed out of the small chair Azula had thrown me in as she came in, and toppled to the floor, my head rocking in my head as I tried to shake out the terrifying and horrendous scene from my mind. I screamed and moaned in agony to the spirits, hoping against hope that the descriptive battle scene Azula was making me watch, never manifested.

**Azula's POV: **I just smirked at the unhinged, sobbing, half naked boy crumbled at the floor near my legs. I could have laughed, cheered, hurrahed, anything to show my joy at reaching a level of torture no one else in the world could even imagine. I had unraveled, and destroyed a boy to this. I could have laughed, or cheered, or hurrahed to show my pride, but I just smirked and made a comment before I turned to leave.

"You shouldn't have kept silent, I probably would've gone slightly lighter on your friends. Now, as punishment, I know just how to maim every one, and I'll tell them who's responsible. Who would've thought that that little scruffy earthbender kid is your biggest weakness?"

Then the poor boy did something I would've never imagined possible for someone this low. He broke the chair with a kick, powered by the adrenaline from his grief, and snatched a chair leg, then tackled me to the ground.

I couldn't respond quickly enough because of the shock, and soon I couldn't move my hands or legs at all! The distressed prisoner looked at me with rage and hatred as he pointed the broken, but sharp, wooden chair leg to my heart. For the first time ever, I felt the slightest twinge of fear. Here was a boy who has the opportunity to kill the person who just promised him the violent and bloody murder of the girl he loved. Someone in that situation could do something drastic, like kill a person.

"She isn't my weakness, she's my strength, and if you touch her, or any one, I swear I will see to it that I personally drive this, or something else even sharper right through your cold and empty heart!" Finally Ty Lee, who had just been standing there, shell shocked, moved, and pulled Sokka off of me. I got up with as much dignity as one could and looked back as he shoved Ty Lee away from him. "And don't even touch me, you monster!" He waited for her to step away before he collapsed on the ground, going back to tears. Ty Lee looked clearly distressed over her crush calling her a monster. I ignored that and turned my attention to Sokka one more time before walking out.

"Love is a weakness. It blinds you from clear thoughts, careful and rational decisions. It makes you easy to manipulate, and is a pointless distraction. It probably isn't even real, just a primal lust inside you. And it has just made you, and your friend's situations worse, because I can assure you, everything you saw will be increased in pain, threefold. And you have that one wrong move to thank for it!" With that I walked off, being overall satisfied with the results as I heard him collapse again and moan in anguish and tears, deeper than I've ever heard before.


	13. Paper Daggers and Memories

**Calm down people, the torture scenes are over. I'm so sorry I had to do that, and I hated to write it. For all you Suki lovers, I'm sorry I had to kill her, but I couldn't have her be there and have Sokka get with Toph. **

**The Gaang is gonna pull a rescue soon, but first, I decided to prolong that, plus, some important things are gonna happen in the next few chapters. The next chap. after this is kinda dark, but after that, I'm done with the dark stuff, so hang on here!**

**Disclaimer: I'm a high schooler... what do you think?**

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Chapter 13: Paper Daggers and Memories

**Ty Lee's POV:** I may look it, and sound like it, and act like it, but I'm not dumb, or oblivious, or naïve. I just act that way. I know exactly what Azula has been doing to the Avatar's friend, who is very cute, and supposedly named Sokka. I know, because I'm the one who has been cleaning him up, and healing his wounds every night.

I don't know how I've been able to, because Azula's kept close eyes on me recently, plus, it was getting annoying how I hadn't been in my bedroom in almost three weeks. So I decided to sneak into my room, right after Azula forced me to help with the torture. I was, right now, walking away from the prison, just outside the Capital city, to my house. I looked up at the sun and frowned. It was about three hours past midday, so Mai would be out, practicing knife throwing at the palace with trained guards, so I couldn't visit her.

My entire family was out, like Mai's so we both had the house to ourselves. Mai and my houses were actually right next to each other, and our bedrooms were lined up to each other. When we were little, we'd open our windows late at night and whisper to each other across windows, or I might leap into her room, or she would fold notes into little paper daggers, and throw them into my room. She became so good, she could get it into my pillowcase. Whenever she wanted to tell me something in secret, she would slip a note into my pillowcase. We never told anyone that, not even Azula. It was our secret.

I finally reached my house, where I ran up to my bedroom, and flopped down onto the bed. It was always so comfy, it could seriously swallow me alive.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I heard the crinkle of paper. My face widened into a grin, and I reached into my pillowcase, and pulled out a large sheet of paper. It had to be from Mai! I hadn't talked to her in three weeks!

I unrolled it and read. But my eyes widened as I read what was on the page.

_Dear Ty Lee,_

_Before I say anything else, I want you to know that you always have been, and will always be remembered by me, as my first, and best friend. But, you probably know by now that Zuko has joined the Avatar (if you didn't… well… surprise!) and now so have I. It isn't just because Zuko is doing it though. I've noticed what awful things Azula has done, what awful things our nation has done. We've wiped out an entire civilization to the point of their only being a single Air Nomad left. Who could do such things and say it's because we wanted to SHARE our greatness. If sharing equals mass killing, like it has, than I have to say I'd like the war to end in the Avatar's favor. I'm not trying to force my opinion on you, I just want you to look back at the last few months and ask yourself if it is truly the path you would have chosen. I hope I can see you after the war is over, without having to fight you. Good luck in everything you do, and good bye. I'll miss you Circus Gal, even if you sometimes drove me up the wall, I luv you like a sister!_

_--Mai_

I read over the letter again, making sure I got this right. Mai switched sides!? I couldn't believe it! I was kind of expecting Zuko to switch over, but Mai! I couldn't believe it.

Why didn't Azula tell me about this? I wanted to make excuses for her, but inside I knew she was probably trying to distort the truth for me, just to make me fight harder. It isn't the first time she would've done it.

Mai did ask me to think about Azula, so I guess that's what I'll do. The best way for me to look over the past couple of months would be for me to look back into my journal. I went to my shelves, and went to the chest marked _Circus Jewelry & Clothes _and dug to the bottom, and pulled out about seven books, wrapped together with string. I freed my diaries from the string and pulled out the most recent, and flipped back to that day I first saw Azula again.

_I was stretching for tonight's show, when you'll never guess who came up to me, diary! Go ahead, guess! Give up? It was my childhood playmate, Azula! (See diaries one halfway through three)I was so happy to see her, but, as I guessed, she hadn't just come here for a visit. She was hunting down her banished brother Zuko (See diary 2) and she wanted my help. I kindly explained that I was happy here, and she accepted it! I couldn't believe it. Then she said she wanted to see tonight's show, and I believed it. Later at the show, the ringmaster decided to set the net on fire while I was balancing. I haven't a clue what possessed him to do that. The only conclusion I could come up with was that Azula asked him to, but it didn't make sense, plus, I don't think she'd be so pissed at me for saying no that she'd tried to kill me! I tried to put the flaming net out of my head, but that certainly didn't become a problem when all the animals mysteriously got loose. If I were to fall, I would either be killed by being burned at the net, or if I managed to avoid that, I would be trampled, and attacked my several wild and dangerous beasts. I could only come to the Azula conclusion again, but my mind shoved the thought away. Maybe the universe was just trying to tell me that I should leave the Circus to help my friend. I'm sure that is what it is. I will tell Azula that I am eager to join her mission when I see her next._

I just blinked as I read what I wrote. How dense could I get? I had always prided myself on being able to pick up things... guess I was really off track! How did I seriously believe that it was the universe hinting at me to leave the circus? At least I saw the truth now for what it was; one of my closest friends had threatened, and blackmailed me, and I just took it. I remembered when we went to Ember Island, she openly insulted me, basically calling me a slut, and I just forgave her, then she just laughed when Zuko was teasing me. Only Mai stood up for me. Then I just forgave her again. Now I am just forgiving her as she horribly tortures the guy I kind of like. Why do I put up with it? Maybe my diary explains.

I eagerly reread all of my journal entries, seeing one truth after another, after another. I had ruthlessly chased the Avatar and his friends all through the night, wearing them thin, and then attacked them at their weakest like a coward. I had attacked those girls, left them hurt in a huge forest without any one to come help them, and stripped one of them almost naked. Then we infiltrated Ba Sing Se, and attacked all those men, and overturned the city, putting men against their families and friends. I had ruined so many lives, and I did it with a happy, oblivious smile on my face. I can't see how I had lived with myself. Sure, Mai and I sometimes helped clean up torture patients, but it doesn't excuse the fact that I hurt people.

I quickly pulled out one last thing. It was my history book. It was called "The Spread of Our Empire". I re-read everything I already knew, but now I looked at it though a different person's eyes. It really didn't sound like we were trying to help the world! It sounded as if we are a horrible, corrupt nation who is fixated on conquering and destroying the world. And I found that I was disgusted with the Fire Nation, and that I had a strong desire to help defeat the one man who was encouraging this fighting. I had a desire to join the Avatar.

I sighed. This would have been so much easier if one of my used to be close friends wasn't the Fire Princess.

I suddenly felt myself pulling out my travel bag. I felt myself putting my favorite clothes, toiletries, and hair things in the bag. I looked up to the scroll of my great Grandfather's. Something told me to take it. I slipped the scroll into my bag, then I felt myself put on the charm bracelet Mai had gotten me for my last birthday, the one with all of the four nations insignias on it. The bracelet almost seemed to guide my way, as if it was leading me to my friend. I felt myself go around the back of my house, take my pet Salamander Lizard, and rode to the prison where they were keeping Sokka so I could free him.

I got there and gaped. There was about five times the amount of guards that were there. Azula must know. She must know that I'm switching sides; why else would she multiply the guard count five times over? There was only one way I was going to get out of the Fire Nation alive.

"I'm sorry Sokka!" and I turned and headed towards the mountains, which is where my bracelet led me. I forced myself to keep pressing forward, hoping that the Avatar's group would accept me, and hoping Mai would still feel the same about me.


	14. Addiction

**Sorry guys, one more torture scene, only this is from Azula's POV. Now we find out just how twisted she is.**

**I'm also showing how Sokka's absence has affected the group, especially Toph. **

**You might just kill me here, but after this, it gets better. **

**Disclaimer: The people who own Avatar would never let me torture Sokka. (It's true!)**

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Chapter 14: Addiction

**Aang's POV: **It's been slightly over two weeks now since I lost my brother. The Gaang has basically fallen apart. I wake up every night to Katara crying into her room; it breaks my heart to see her like this. I would always go in to comfort my love, and I always just let her collapse into my arms, and I just watch her cry until we both fall asleep. Three days ago I just moved into her room, that way I don't have to wake up every one who's in between our rooms. I just want to ring her brother back, so she can be happy again. I want to kiss away every tear she cries, and comfort her until she is better. There is so much I feel the need to do for her. Right now, the only thing I can do is comfort her through this tragedy, and practice bending harder than ever so I can be ready for when the Final Battle comes, or for when we break Sokka out of any prison. Either one.

Zuko is much quieter than usual, if it's possible. He has been practicing his newfound skill of lightning as often as he can. He will do it when he's not teaching me, eating, sleeping, or being comforted by Mai. That was a lot of the time. No one slept much anymore. He just kept trying to perfect it. Iroh was helping a lot. The both of them were now teaching me. Every morning to noon I'd train with them, getting more of a work out than I've ever had before.

The Duke, Teo, and Haru kind of hang around the temple, none of us ever see them.

Recently Haru has been working hard at earthbending. I sometimes spar with him at earthbending. I usually beat him. Mainly because of what Toph had been teaching me about feeling vibrations. I can do it all the time now, with, or without a blindfold.

But the hardest hit by Sokka's capture was Toph. She had locked herself in her room, completely avoiding the company of others. To avoid us, she has stopped eating too. Katara has to break into her room every night after she falls asleep and force her to drink with waterbending. I am worried that she is planning on making herself sick with starvation to the point of death. I have not had a single earthbending lesson since before that battle; I don't think she would be up to earthbending. That bending technique is all about strength, which is something she didn't have a lot of anymore.

Katara had asked me to watch her, to make sure she isn't doing anything drastic. But recently, I have been noticing something different about her. She had created a tunnel from her room that leads to nowhere, just a dead end. Using vibrations, I tracked her one day. She stopped right in the floor of the spot where Zuko is always practicing his lightning. She just sat right under where Zuko was shooting lightning. I first guess was that she had gone suicidal, but, when I felt Zuko practicing lightning with vibrations, I knew the truth. When he practiced lightning on the ground, the earth charged up, and shook and buzzed.

When I first felt it the way Toph would have felt it, I almost collapsed to the ground. What a head rush! It felt incredible! Every fiber of the earth hummed with incredible amounts of energy. It was enough to take your mind far away from the world, and its problems. If I just sat here for a second and took it all in, I could just give into the energy, let it overtake me, and let my problems 

slip away. My eyes slowly began to shut, giving into the power, and I felt my body begin to slump, and shut down, the way I felt Toph doing.

Suddenly my eyes widened and I jumped up, shaking the buzz from the lightning out of my dizzied head. I knew what was happening. Toph was dealing with her loss with these jolts. I don't know how many times she had done this before, but I automatically knew what she was doing. The lightning was like her drug. She was getting high and laid over the energy the earth pulsated with when lightning hit it. And I almost gave into it too!

Toph was starving herself, isolating herself, drugging herself, and probably doing several other things to herself that we didn't even know about. I ran to go tell Katara. If anyone would know how to help our friend, she would. She was such a be happy, go lucky kind of girl. Where had she gone? The Toph who had been here the past few weeks was very brooding, miserable, anti-social, and everything depressed that fell in the middle.

I found Katara and ran up to her, panting, and out of breath, but I didn't waste a minute to catch up to my breath before I started talking. "Toph… depressed… and with the tunnel… and Zuko's lightning training… and the head rush… and she's getting addicted…and…" Katara had a look of confusion on her face, and I realized how little sense I was probably making. I caught my breath, and started again.

"Katara, Toph is getting really depressed and broody… well… everyone knew that. But she has a tunnel in her room which leads to right beneath the floor to where Zuko always practices with his newfound lightning…" Katara, being a girl, didn't wait for me to finish, and cut me off, asking questions.

"Why is she under there?" She sounded curious, but also worried. I scrunched my face, slightly annoyed, but continued.

"When he shoots lightning at the floor it charges the earth, sending out a kind of energy, or charge, a buzz if you will. But I felt it, and it was overpowering from where I stood. And I was pretty far away. Toph is getting stronger blasts. But she's taking the energy the earth sends out from the lightning like a drug. I think she's addicted to that energy!"

Katara didn't respond right away, she looked shell shocked. She was frozen with her mouth slightly open and hanging agape. I was starting to worry if she'd gone into shock, but she finally mustered up the voice to speak.

"I'm a terrible friend!"

"What!? NO!!"

"I never knew! She's my best girl friend and I never knew that she started drugging herself! And… signs! I bet there were signs! Probably signs galore and I didn't notice! I just ignored the several signs! I am a terrible, awful, mean…" I cut her off, I couldn't listen to her bring herself down that way.

"Katara, no!! Because of you, she's still alive! And no one noticed, plus there weren't signs because she wasn't in our sight for us to see! You're just blabbering, and letting guilt get ahead of you! This is not your fault! You are the greatest friend, and so caring! Don't bring yourself down! You are incredible, and nothing less!"

"Incredible?" She asked me quietly, as if she didn't believe me.

"The most incredible person I have ever known! Always strong, and caring, and ready to step up, and put others before yourself! You are amazing!"

"Wow! You talk good!" I smiled at her. "So, I'm amazing? I can live with amazing. But I really need to talk to Toph right now. I'll catch her in her room. See ya in a bit!"

"Good luck!" She smiled back at me and ran off. I was slightly shaken up. For good measure I repeated the phrase in a whisper.

"Good luck!"

**Toph's POV: **Whoa! Head rush! That last charge was… wow! I lopsidedly stumbled into my room and turned back around to hide my tunnel. All of everything's vibrations were shaking and shifting, like in a desert, and I felt like I was caught, spinning incredibly fast, only in my line of vision. I tried to close the darn thing, and barely succeeded in covering it up. Then I felt the ground come closer and closer, just before I felt my body make contact with the ground. I just lid there, feeling close to being taken by sleep.

I've been sleeping for most of the two weeks since the battle. I've just been tired. I've been tired of the Western Air Temple, and I've been tired of this room, and I've been tired of these feelings, and the people continually saying they 'just want to help', and just plain old life. Sleeping is the closest I get to happy. When I fall to sleep, I can almost hear Sokka's heartbeat and his voice calling to me.

Sokka.

Suddenly the rest of the energy that I felt from the lightning left my body, and just left me on the floor feeling empty. The one thing that could flush the charge from me immediately and leave me feeling empty and lonely again is his footsteps in my mind.

I just ignored the emptiness and focused on getting to sleep. I needed to feel Sokka here with me, and this was my only way, because this group of wimps can't handle two prison breaks in the same month! I started to feel myself drifting away, but right before I could slip into my unconscious utopia, the wall in front of my door was shattered into several pebbles by none other than Sugar Queen.

I sat up and glared angrily at her. She just pulled her water back into her pouch and sat down on the floor next to me. I sighed. She was just here to say she understands how I'm feeling and that we can help each other deal. I don't need her help. I can handle myself.

"I know about what you're doing to yourself." My eyebrows went up. I didn't expect her to say that. Does she mean the tunnel and Zuko's lightning?

"What do you mean?"

"Oh don't give me that crap! I'm talking about you curbing your grief with the vibrations the earth gives off when hit by lightning. It's not good for you. We're all worried." Like hell you are, and how did she know?

"Who told you?"

"Don't change subjects! You aren't ok. We never see you anymore! You don't eat, I have to force you to drink at night, we never see you earthbending anything except for walls!"

"I'm fine!" I tried to insist at her, but she didn't buy it.

"I can't feel vibrations like you do, but I know that's a lie! You aren't ok, but neither are we! If you haven't noticed, or are too wrapped up in your 'charges' to notice, we miss you, and we need you! Mai only talks to Zuko now, she won't talk to me! Aang desperately needs his earthbending teacher, he's been training like hell so he can be ready to break Sokka out of wherever they're keeping him, but you wouldn't know, and aren't helping! And me! You are my BEST FRIEND and I haven't seen you since we got back to the Temple! Take a look around you! Sokka was our glue, he held every one together! We have fallen apart without him, and you're just hanging out underground to check out Zuko's firebending practice! I just lost my brother! The last person in my quickly shrinking family! Now it's just me, and Gran Gran, somewhere in the South Pole! I just lost the last of my family, and I don't have anyone to talk to about it! Aang can comfort me until the Moosecows come home, then he can continue to comfort me while I comfort the Moosecows, but I will still always need a girl friend to talk to! And where is my best friend? In some dead end tunnel absorbing lightning shocks!"

I couldn't find the words to say anything. I just took in everything that Katara had shouted at me. Trying to make sense of it, I guess Katara needed to make sense of everything she had just dumped on me too.

"I did not mean to say all that!" No matter what, Katara was in Babble mode. "Actually… yeah, I did! I want you to know what Sokka's capture and your retreat from the rest of the Gaang has done to us! Now I want to hear what you have to say, I want to hear you say why!"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"I don't need to understand. I just need to hear this!"

"Fine! Don't get too wierded out!"

"I kept my cool when you told me you loved my brother!"

"I took those shocks for the place they put me it. It was a kind of almost sleep that was totally tranquil. I absorbed them also for the high it gave off, but mainly for that tranquility that would pull me into sleep. And when I slept, I could feel Sokka." I felt her mouth open to comment, but I cut her off. "No, I don't know why I can feel him, I just know it's him, it's his heartbeat. It's almost as if we're connected somehow. In the tranquility, we just float there, and I just notice him, notice everything about him. I only get there through the lightning; I don't know how he gets there. He's just there."

This time Katara just sat there without and words in her head. But I've never known Katara to be without words for too long, and, holding up her legacy, she quickly found her voice.

"But, you didn't have to cut us out. And taking lightning like a drug can't be the only way in, especially if you said Sokka was there too. Just, stop the lightning, it's hurting you. Plus, we all need you too. Y'know everything I said? I've been wanting to say that to someone all week! Can you please fit us in."

"Yeah, I missed you guys too. But, it's so hard to deal! Will it ever get easy?"

"Will what ever get easy?"

"Life."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Lie to me."

"Yes, as soon as we get Sokka back and defeat the Fire Lord, we will free every one, and the world will automatically go back to a time of peace and happiness. And love will sort itself out for everyone, so everyone is happy with a soul mate. And If there are any bad people left in the world, which there won't be… we will easily be able to tell that they are evil because of their enormous sideburns and long nails, and pointy teeth, and Aang will be able to stop them with merely a flick of the wrist, and there will never be anymore downsides to life ever again!"

I smiled at her obvious lie, she knew that would make me smile. "Liar!" I felt her smile back, and something lifted from her breathing and heartbeat, almost as if I felt a burden lift off of her. I felt my heart do the same thing. "Thank you Katara." I knew then that I could deal.

**Azula's POV: **I circled around Sokka menacingly. I was going to do the cruelest, psychological torture method I could think of. A Dai Li agent stood in a corner of the cell, ready for orders. I think his name was Hehn. Hehn had already briefed me on how brainwashing and forced forgetting is done and I was eager to try it. We couldn't build the metal revolving machine that was often used, so I was going to use firebending to create a small revolving fireball, but it was hard to keep it down to below 1000 degrees. I never realized how advanced I was until I tried to keep the fire down to a regular soldier's fire temperature. Then I just laughed at how pathetic and incompetent they all were.

We had to tie him to the chair after the last incident. We thought we had broken him, but clearly he had some kick left.

"Soon they won't be here anymore, so do you know what you have left is? Do you?"

"Surprise me." Sokka replied with hate dripping in his voice.

"Memories, that's all you'll have left. Now imagine if for strange reason, you can no longer remember any of their faces and voices. All you have are experiences, just nothing about the people you experienced it with." I grinned ecstatically when I saw his eyes widen in fear. He looked as if he was trying to wrap his head around never remembering his sister's face, or his love's face. I don't think he was wrapping very well.

He glanced at the Hehn, hoping for a signal of mercy, when he got none; he turned back to me, eyes wider than I've ever seen. The taste of the fear in the room was delicious, just as strong as when we had him watch the imaginary death scene. Never was the smell so strong with any of the physical torture I let out on him. I relied on this intoxicating smell.

The smell of human fear called to me ever since I was little. When Zuko was fighting Father, the smell was overpowering, and that was when I became addicted forever. Once he was banished I suffered from serious withdrawal, since all of the smells I enjoyed the past few years came through him after Mother disappeared, and his several nightmares. I thirsted for more, so I started visiting the torture prisons. It became an addiction; I would come here in between my rigorous training sessions. Soon, I was powerful enough to do some torture myself. I was known for coming up with several new, and cruel torture methods. Until we caught Sokka, physical torture was enough to have maximum results in the taste and smell of the fear that came off of the prisoners.

Then here was a friend of the Avatar. I wanted to work him over harder than anyone I've ever tortured for the information, but also to see how good of a supplier he was. His fear off the physical pain was sweet and alluring. I could taste it and smell it stronger than ever before. His fear almost took a texture in my mouth. And the smell clouded my lungs in a delicious way. But I wanted more. Then I thought of the psychological torture, and the doses of fear raised to an all time high! I almost completely forgot about looking for the Avatar, because I was so caught up in this prisoner as a permanent supplier. But I kept my head on, as I did with anything. I couldn't deny myself the pleasure of his fear. I could probably capture his little lover, then I could play their fear against each other. I wonder if the Avatar and all of his friends had such rich and delicious fear. If I capture all of them, I could also pit the Avatar and the waterbender's fear against each other, because it was clear there was something happening in between them.

Thoughts of all of that fear dripping and thickening in the air until it choked her wafted through my head, and wrapped around my mouth, tickling my taste buds. It distracted me, and I didn't notice that the small fireball I was controlling was spinning faster and faster. I finally snapped back to reality and saw what was happening. I was almost positive that I could see images flashing in his eyes. His eyes started flashing green, then gray, then the golden that was in my eyes, then back to blue, then a light jade that was exactly like the blind earthbender's eyes. I realized that each time he forgot a person's face and voice, his eyes flashed the color of their eyes. As soon as his eyes turned to the light jade orbs he began to scream louder than I've ever heard. At that same moment, his fear level sot through the roof, attacking, and overwhelming my 

senses, and I began to scream too, for the pleasure. Over the period of a few seconds we both were shouting louder than I had ever heard. Then he stopped as the forgetting process stopped. He keeled over and started holding his head, probably trying to rack his brain for an image, one that was not there. I too stopped shouting, and composed myself.

"Oh, upset? Can't remember your little earthbender's face? How about her voice? No? Let's try your sister… any images coming to your head? Your father? Your friend, the Avatar? My brother? His little girlfriend? Still no? Spirits you have a bad memory! Oh well." He growled at me. And instead of fear, hate radiated off him. That taste was almost as luscious as fear. "You'll notice you still have your memories of them. That's for the grief."

He blinked, then looked down, and a lone tear came down his cheek in despair. I just smirked.

"Welcome to hell!" He just stiffened in apprehension and my skin tingled. I was addicted to the taste!

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**Ok, I am now officially done with the dark stuff. It'll get better now. **

**I'm sorry I gave Toph an addiction. But she would be depressed, and she enjoyed Zuko's lightning so much during the battle, so...**

**Please review to tell me you don't hate me!**


	15. Connection

**Sorry guys, this is the actual chapter fifteen, the other is sixteen that I posted as fifteen by mistake. Sorry if everyone got confused.**

**Disclaimer: Yes! I have finally done it! I own Avatar now! Expect that Brian and Mike just took it back from me. Sigh, there go my hopes and dreams.**

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Chapter 15: Connection

**Toph's POV:** Day three without any lightning. I've been counting very closely. I can feel that my body no longer wants the charge; it's been completely flushed out of my body. But my mind still depends on it. I'm constantly twiddling something, or my fingers keep twitching. Somehow The Duke snuck up on me yesterday and tapped me on the shoulder to ask me something. I was so nervous I accidentally flung him fifteen feet in the air, I felt really bad about that, but he understood. Apparently, the Duke used to be 'addicted' to stabbing things with little knives, usually trees. He said that he went through the same 'twitchy stage.' No matter how many times he said it was fine I still felt kinda guilty for the huge black and blue mark on his face that Katara commented on as being "as bad as if a Fire Nation tank hit it" as she healed it. I usually don't feel that bad when I throw some one that high up, it's probably just because he's so little, and about nine years old.

It's kind of weird to be back with the Gaang, but a good kind of weird…I think. I'm supposed to restart earthbending training with Aang this afternoon, right after he's done with his firebending training with Zuko and Iroh. When I asked when that would be, Katara just said "When the sun is directly overhead." I just pointed to my eyes and gave her a smile that just said several sarcastic things all in one. She just said "Oh, yeah! Um, when you feel them walking towards the fountain." I nodded and headed to my room to lie down. I was tired. Not the kind of tired I've been the last few weeks though, the kind of good tired you get from running around everywhere and doing things. Besides the Duke, I had been making amends with everyone in the temple. Mai had decided to give me a hard time, and I started feeling uber guilty, until I realized she was just messing with me. I punched her in the arm lightly.

Besides the peace-making, I had also been practicing earthbending until my muscles were sore. I had forgotten how excited it always made me. I had missed it.

I collapsed on my bed, breathing heavily. I sniffed the sheets, and then I got really confused. I put my foot down on the floor. This was Sokka's room! I stood up, and looked around. I was positive this was my room a few seconds before.

It may just be because of my 'twitchy stage' but I suddenly felt a presence in the room. I don't know why, but I whipped my head around to look, hello… blind! The person felt like they were in the earth, so my first guess was Aang, no one else could be underground, but it didn't sound like Aang's flighty little steps. I didn't even feel steps, or a pocket for a person to be in either. Plus the he/she felt like they were all around, not just below me in the ground, also in the walls and ceiling. I didn't know who this was, so I just stepped into my stance and got ready to defend myself.

Then I got it. It wasn't a person in the earth, it was the earth itself. Either that, or withdrawal really sucks. The earth took form right in front of me, and spoke.

"I have missed you, my child! It is good to see you back to using your gift cleanly!" It sounded like a hiss mixed with a hum. It was a nice voice, but what does she mean by 'my child'?

"Huh?" Wow Toph, you really have a way with words!

"I am here to help rekindle your bond that was broken forcefully by some of my corrupt children."

"Huh?" I repeated dumbly, then finally found the words that my brain wanted to use. "Who are you?"

"I am your eyes, a part of you. Who you are, who you'll become." I just cocked my head at her annoying riddle-poem-answers. Then I choked on the air in my lungs. Was this…?

"Yes… I am the Spirit of the Earth." She just decided to read my thoughts. "I am here to help you."

"Uh…thank you? But what do I need help with…?" Wait, was she here because of my addiction? If that's what it was, then she must have been in some serious Spirit World traffic. She just laughed, and her hummy-hissy voice trailed over into a sound that sounded a bit like bells.

"You think you know what you are, what is to come. You haven't even begun." I frowned. She was starting to sound a lot like the KP. She just continued. "Recently, you have formed a bond with a boy. There is rarely ever one so strong, usually only one or two for each generation. This bond helps you to see and understand the other's feelings, even from long distances. You will also always be able to find each other, to an extent.

"My nightmare… and the dreams…" I was puzzling things together.

"Yes… that is a perfect example. In sleep, your subconscious minds were able to connect to each other, and find each other. That is why you feel his presence in your dreams and his fear in your nightmares. And vice versa."

"Really?" She nodded in response. "Cool. So… wait, since when have we viced this versa?"

"It isn't just one way." I just stiffened in a response to her KP reference. Does that mean he likes me too, or just that he cares about me… as a friend?

"Recently some of my children have been corrupted. And one is interrupting your bond. He is doing things to make him forget. That's why I must take your spirit form to find him. It is his time to be set free."

"Why can't that time have been several weeks ago? But wait! Katara told me that when Aang went into the spirit world he couldn't bend. How will I see?"

The spirit just smiled, then I felt her wave a hand, and a bright light flooded my eyes. Then I could see. And the first thing I saw was a small body on the ground. I realized that body was me.

I ran to where I knew Sokka's mirror was, and I saw that I was transparent. I was also a strange kind of color. It could easily be a dark, or light color, but it was kind of in the middle. I looked back to the on the ground me. I was wearing clothes with a cool color. It was an in the middle color too, accompanied by a light color. I was told that Earth Nation always wears green, so I guess one of those colors is green.

"The in the middle color is green, the other is tan. But we must go now. You will be able to find him when he is sleeping, and he just started doing that." Then she pulled me into the floor, and I felt the earth moving around, and through us for that matter. I was starting to get uncomfortable, so I tried the conversational route.

"So… you have a name?" Dumb question, the answer would be a 'duh'!

"I am called Rhea."

"Ok… out of curiosity, why is Sokka so important to you?"

"On the first count, you are my child, and I am a part of you, and he matters to you, so he matters to me too."

"And on the second count…?"

"He will play a large role in what is to come, and so will you."

"How?"

"All things come in due time." I tried to piece things together, and apparently, I'm a good piecer.

"That line in the KP. It wasn't about Aang or Zuko, it was about him!"

"He has so much more than he knows. But before he has access to it, you must get close, and you have, and you are about to." I could have pumped my fists in the air. I was right! I always knew he was special.

Then we came out of the ground into a cold, dark, black thing. The black stuff was made into what I guessed to be a cell. This must be what metal looks like. Then, in the corner, I saw a boy, collapsed, he had on pants, but he was shirtless, revealing dark lines all over him body, and even thinner bright lines, with something, equally bright, and liquid-like on the ground. Only, the liquid substance looked slightly hardened. So water was out of the question.

Something clicked in my mind, and I got it. This poor looking boy, had to be Sokka. I clapped my hand to my mouth. I may be new to sight, but I knew the things on his body weren't supposed to be there.

"Oh spirits! Sokka, what has Azula done to you?"

**Aang's POV: **I had gotten out of firebending late, because Iroh said that I was doing something right, while Zuko argued that my elbow should be higher. I was suddenly glad I wasn't Fire Nation, because the two firebenders started getting into a heated argument over a silly, insignificant detail. I finally stepped in, playing peacemaker by saying I'd try both. Turns out, Zuko was right in my case. He relished the moment of being right, because apparently, it didn't happen often.

Zuko and Iroh immediately went to the Fountain in the center of the temple. I started to head towards the place where Toph and I practice earthbending. According to her, I was going to learn my last two moves today. I was so excited to finally have two of the four under my belt, even though I thought I'd master water before earth. Plus I hadn't been practicing earthbending in two weeks, for obvious reasons.

I was in such an excitement, that I decided to switch to vibration mode. I closed my eyes, and felt around the whole temple. It seemed everyone was at the fountain, except Toph. Then I heard a new pair of footsteps. I recognized them, despite the fact they were more slow, and more fearful, as Ty Lee's. I turned away, and ran from the earth arena that we used, towards the fountain. As much airbending as I put into it, I still thought I needed to run faster. But in the end, I still got there before the acrobat.

"Guys! Watch out! Ty Lee is here!" Every one kinda freaked right then, except for Mai, she seemed unsure. Every one rushed to get their weapon. We knew if she attacked any of us, the other seven people would stop her before she could do anything.

Then she came up, with a bag over her shoulder and a Salamander-lizard in her hand. She let go of the Salamander-Lizard and dropped the bag, and fell down into a deep bow that was more like a crouch, her head was touching the ground. I immediately earthbended her bag away from her and pinned her feet to the ground with earthbending. She shakily stood up, and it looked as if she was looking at Mai, which made sense, because I'm pretty sure they were close when she was an Azula lackey.

"I'm here to apologize for everything I've done. It was wrong, and I see that now. I was manipulated by Azula, and forced into helping her. I never wanted to do any of the things I did. I am here to help you any way I can." I was surprised by her words, and wished I had learned liebending already. Where was Toph when you needed her?

"How do we know we can trust you? I'm not sure about everyone else, but you've attacked us too many times without a care! Until we've got some real proof, then I say we have to keep her prisoner!" Katara first started yelling at her, then talked to us about a course of action. I nodded in response, before quickly tapping out a message to Katara to go find Toph. She left, pretending to look angry. Ty Lee just looked upset, then she smiled.

"Ooh! Check in my bag that you took away! First of all, the scroll, I have a feeling that the Avatar should have it. It was my Great Grandfather's. He was a general, who was part of the army who invaded the Air Temples. He took it from one of the Monk's rooms. I want you to have it. Also, there are my dia… journals. Open the pink one with the light pink flowers to 

page… I think twenty eight. It'll explain why I joined Azula in the first place." She looked proud of herself for thinking about it.

I cautiously went to her bag, finding an old scroll, and about eight diaries, each one of them pink with a slightly different pattern, and clothes. I went to the scroll first. I was surprised to find my name on it. I looked to see if it said who it was from. I gulped, it was from Gyatso. I unrolled it, and a little note fell out. I skimmed it, tears almost coming to my eyes when I recognized the writing as Gyatso's.

_Dear Aang,_

_You have just ran away, but I have faith in the spirits that you will find this somehow. Enclosed is the last three moves you needed to become a Grand Master of Airbending. Yes, we have already given you the title of Master when we gave you your tattoos, but these three moves are unique, and the Avatar should know them, despite the inhumanity of one. Please learn all three, for my sake. Now that you are the Avatar, you may need every move, it could save your life. I am so proud of you, and you must know that I think of you as a son. Go well on your journey!_

_Gyatso_

I teared up, and looked at the airbending forms in front of me, before quickly putting it away. I was very close to being convinced that Ty Lee was supposed to be here. I thought to the KP as I looked for the journal she described. She would be our second reversal! I opened up to the journal page she described. I was hesitant to read a girl's diary though. After looking up for a final ok, I skimmed the page, my jaw falling lower and lower as I went further down. Ty Lee didn't want to join Azula to chase us, she was forced! Just to make sure, I checked when she wrote it with waterbending. Feeling hardly any liquid to the point of complete solidness, I was convinced.

"You have convinced me of your truthfulness, but we have one more test. When Katara comes back, we will truly know." As if on cue, Katara appeared, looking grim. She tapped out an SOS, and told me to come. My eyes widened. I turned back to everyone else. "Zuko! Haru! Mai! Watch her, I'll be right back!"

Katara practically dragged me to Sokka's room, where I saw Toph collapsed on the floor. Shocked, I switched to vibration mode.

"Hmm, no traces of charge from lightning, her heartbeat is normal, along with pulse, and breathing. She seems fine." I was confused as I analyzed her through the earth. My only guess was that Ty Lee blocked her chi, I turned to voice my guess, but Katara beat me to it, reading my thoughts.

"Her chi is flowing fine, so it's not Ty Lee, and there are no cuts, burns, bruises, anything that would explain what it wrong with her." She frowned, and I squeezed her hand. "We should probably bring her to the fountain. Maybe the others would know what is wrong."

With that, Aang used earthbending to lift her onto a slab of earth, and he floated the slab to the fountain, where he put her down. Everyone looked shocked. Zuko started trying to defend himself.

"I haven't practiced lightning at all today! I swear, I had nothing to do with this! I…" I cut him off in his apology.

"Don't sweat; it's not because of charges. Her heartbeat, pulse, and breathing is normal. She has no cuts, burns, bruises, anything! And her chi is flowing fine, so Ty Lee is off the hook." I quickly explained.

Ty Lee looked curious, almost that she was surprised how much every one cared about her, and all worked together to help her. How crappy of a friend was Azula? Wow! That was a dumb question! The girl in the rock prison spoke up, seeming determined to help.

"If I can get a closer look at her, I might be able to help!"

"How?" Katara was still suspicious.

"I can read auras, if there is something psychological going on, then I might be able to detect it, so you would be able to fix it." I started to smile, that was pretty smart. Besides, it was most likely that she was in a psychological thing, due to the Sokka thing, plus the whole withdrawal thing also.

"Fine." Katara sounded very mistrusting, which I didn't blame her for, but after looking through her bag, I was pretty convinced she had changed.

Katara gently pushed her friend closer to Ty Lee, but not close enough for her to touch Toph. Ty Lee carefully came down to a sitting position, and looked over at her, and began to frown. Ty Lee kept looking for a few minutes, I noticed after a bit that her nose started bleeding. Finally, Ty Lee wiped her nose and looked up at us, upset.

"I couldn't detect her aura in the least! Almost as if her spirit isn't in her body!" My eyes opened wide at her words. I ran over, and touched her forehead, as I had done when I was facing Hei Bei. My palm began to glow, and I felt my eyes flash just before I saw the earth around me, almost as I was seeing through Toph's eyes, next to her, was a woman… I think! She looked more like a manifestation of the earth… or an earth spirit!!

"She's been taken into the spirit world!" I declared as my eyes returned to normal. I rubbed them to get out the glowy feeling that always makes me tired. Then I continued. "I think an Earth Spirit is helping her to find Sokka!"

Every one reacted to this in shock. And I was positive I saw a flicker of hope in Katara's eyes. Ty Lee's eyes widened. And spoke up.

"About that! There are about five hundred guards around the prison." Zuko and Mai stiffened up.

"Which one?" Zuko asked. Mai gulped at her face.

"The Dragon's Breath prison." Both Mai and Zuko reacted with gasps and worried glances. Katara's flicker of hope was replaced with worry.

"What!? Is that bad?!"

"It's one of Azula's. It is for people convicted of treason, and it is known as the most awful and cruel torture prison in the Fire Nation, possibly the world! It's right outside the capital." As Zuko said it, we all tensed up. I was the first to talk.

"Load up Appa! The second Toph wakes up, we're leaving!" Every one ran to get their things to prepare for battle. I turned and broke Ty Lee's cuffs and spoke to her.

"Would you be ready and willing to fight Azula right now?"

"More than!"

"Welcome to the Gaang." Then I turned away from her, and ran to my room to get my glider. Under my breath, I whispered a promise to myself and the spirits.

"I'm coming to save you Sokka, and I won't lose any one this time!" I hoped beyond hope that it wasn't in vain.


	16. Memory

**I just got the best constructive critisim from The Pterodactyl. I just want to thank them. You rock!**

**Disclaimer: If I had a penny for every time I have to say I don't own Avatar...**

Chapter 16: Memory

I went to Sokka to hug him, or comfort him, or inspect his injuries, but I just went right through him. I cried out silently, then turned to Rhea.

"What are the dark things?"

"The color, is black, just like your bracelet, and those are burns. Burns can also be red or white, but these are very bad burns! The red lines, which are these, are cuts, and knife stabs." She pointed to the bright things that were dubbed red. I fearfully turned to the liquid-like things, which were also red. I was afraid to ask. But I had to.

"What is the red liquid?" I was hoping she was going to say water, or juice, or something like that, but I knew what it was probably going to say.

"That is blood." I was right. I'm starting to hate when that happens.

"I need to see that he's ok! Help me wake him up, we can shout really loud, or wave around! Now I really wish I could earthbend! I can yell in his ear! He hates that, I know, but I need to see he's ok!"

"He will not hear you. Even to the most awake, we cannot be perceived in any way."

"I refuse to believe that!" With that I began shouting at him, begging him, but he didn't hear at all, just like I wasn't here.

Then, I saw him sit up quickly; he was sweating, and clearly distraught. I tried so many times to call to him, but it fell on deaf ears. I fell down and started to cry. Whispering his name one more time.

Suddenly, he sat up straight, and looked around. Did he hear that?

"Who is it? Who's there? I can't see you!" I turned to Rhea, hopeful, she just stood there in a state of shock that he had heard me whispering "impossible" to herself. And for the first time in two weeks, I felt hopeful. Sokka and I had just broken the rules of the spirit world! We must have a strong bond! I turned and smirked at Rhea before turning back to Sokka.

"Impossible" Rhea just muttered to herself again.

**Sokka's POV: **It was a nightmare. There were several people there, but none that I recognized. I had to wonder if they were the Gaang that I was forced to forget. I woke up sweating. I had gotten used to the cold prison that Hisato told me to call home. Suddenly, all the details of yesterday had come back to me. My brother, my sister, my love, my father, Zuko, Mai, every one, I completely forgot what they looked like, and their voices. I choked back more tears. Then I thought I heard someone whisper my name. I sat up straight, and looked around. I didn't see any guards in the hall, and there was no one near my cell. I felt stupid calling out, but I had to 

know.

"Who is it? Who's there? I can't see you!"

"Sokka!" I heard the voice gasp. It was a nice voice. I really wished I knew whose voice it was. "Don't you remember me?" It had to be one of the Gaang, no one else would sound that hurt by me not remembering. I had to explain.

"A Dai Li guy took all my memories of every one's faces and voices, I have all my memories though, so if I hear your name, I will remember. Why can't I see you?"

"It's Toph. Sokka, are you ok!"

I gasped when she said this. But the only reason I could think of why I can't see her is that she's a spirit, which means, Azula actually… oh spirits!

"Toph! I'm sorry! So sorry! It's my fault she… I didn't tell her anything, but that made it worse in the end! And… we lost! I am so sorry! I couldn't protect you either! I am losing everyone I love! Mom…Yue… Suki… Dad… Katara… you… oh spirits! Azula just knew! She told me what she did! I'm so sorry! You are all dead… because of me! I am bad! I didn't mean to, but I killed you! It's my fault…" I was sobbing by now. And Toph just cut me off.

"What do you mean? Sokka, we haven't seen Azula since the battle. She was just tricking you, we are all fine! And you did nothing wrong. I am proud that you haven't told her anything! You have probably saved our lives because of that!" I was confused. So… they weren't dead? But I didn't deserve Toph's praise. I told her this.

"No, you're overestimating me. I didn't do anything special. I just stood there, and didn't do anything. I am bad!" I thought I heard a small growl from Toph. I was almost positive I heard her walk over, though I saw no one, then I felt a heat on my cheek, and I was positive it was her. I looked away in shame.

"You are not a bad person! On top of all things! You are the most incredible person I know! Before, you said that you were upset that we were all special, and you weren't. Ok, so you're not a bender. But you can't see how incredible you are! You can always stand so close to the spotlight, and never be in it. And you are ready to pass the baton to any one without a moment's hesitation! You're our glue! You pull us together, and help make us strong. You're not special, you're extraordinary! That's your gift! You make us strong!" Near the end, she trailed away into quietness.

I had no idea she thought of me that way. Then a thought crossed my mind. Does this mean I have a chance with this amazing woman? No, it just means that she thinks highly of me as a friend.

"How are you here? Thank the Spirits you are, but how?" I was positive I heard a hiss saying 'you're welcome' but I wasn't sure. A second later I heard Toph's voice again.

"The Spirit of the Earth brought me here. Apparently, by me coming here, we are saving some kind of bond we have that is necessary for the final battle, and the one that we'll have to go through when we break you out today. But this Spirit talks like she is a prophesy. She's like 'all things will come in due time', she makes no sense, so I don't know all the details. Whoops, I probably shouldn't say anything that might piss off the spirit who controls my bending!" I have to laugh at that. She always knew how to do that. Then some things caught me by surprise.

"Wait, what bond?"

"I don't know, apparently we have a kind of bond that helps us find each other." I felt my cheeks redden, and was glad she couldn't see them, or could she? I also felt the air around me get slightly hotter. What did that mean? I focused on the scary thought also lurking in my mind.

"Whatever it means, it doesn't mean you can risk coming to save me! It's too dangerous, and there are too many guards!"

"Rhea said that it was time to come get you, plus, after seeing how bruised up you are, I would get the Gaang down here if I had to drag them by their feet every step!" I smiled, good old Toph, still cheering me up!

"I bet you could too! And…Rhea?" I hoped it wasn't a close friend who the Dai Li made me forget.

"The Earth Spirit. But Sokka, I have to go get everyone and convince them to come!" I decided to leave on a little joke.

"Fine, leave me!"

"I will!" I smiled again at her jokey response.

"Hurry! I miss the Gaang!"

"See ya soon!"

Then the heat that had been building up in the room disappeared, and the cell reverted back to the old hellhole it was. I couldn't believe it! I was finally getting out!

**Toph's POV: **Once again, we were zipping through the earth, back to my body. I was getting slightly tired from being so far away from my body, but being with Sokka had given me energy, and strength.

I felt myself back at the Western Air Temple. Everyone was decked in weaponry, and Appa was back in his Sokka-made-armor from the looks of it, and all ready for a fight. I looked at every one. The girl in what I knew to be blue, with long, wavy hair, who I guessed was Katara; the slightly smaller boy, without any hair had to be Aang, and the taller boy, with the burn on his face had to be Zuko. Then there were a few others, but I couldn't distinguish them, except for the 

littlest who was only helping to load was the Duke. When Rhea spoke again, I turned to face her, she had something in her hand. When I touched it, it felt like Katara's waterskin, only bigger.

"Your waterbender friend cannot fight until you find him. Have her come with you, and have her use this water to heal him. It is water from the Spirit World, so it will heal all injuries. But, his memories will only be restored if you are touching him while she is using the water." She smiled. "Goodbye my child!"

Then I felt my sight dimming back to blindness, and I sat up, back in my body. Katara was the first to notice.

"You're awake!"

"Come on! We need to go save Sokka now!"

"I know we're already loaded up! Let's go!" I smiled and stood up, thanking the spirits that they somehow knew. Then I paused when I felt some one new jumping on Appa.

"What's Ty Lee doing here?"

"Long story!"

"Long story short?"

"She's on our side now!" I paused for a second, taking this in, then jumped on Appa. Once every one was up I handed the waterskin over to Katara.

"What's this for? And where did you get it?"

"It's Spirit World Water! It's to heal Sokka with! Believe me, he's going to need it!" I heard a 'yip yip' and we were flying again, but this time, we had brought every bender we have, plus both of Azula's lackeys. We had to leave Teo and the Duke back at the Temple. I whispered under my breath.

"We're coming for you Sokka!"


	17. Ability

**I'm not one to beg for reviews, but I've gotten very few. The best so far is from Empress of Pudding. I'd also like to thank Mr. Average, AvatarProdigy, The Pterodactyl, vector2michael, and anyone else if I missed you for reviewing. **

**Disclaimer: My Spidey senses are telling me that Mike and Brian, and not me, own Avatar.**

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Chapter 17: Ability

**Katara's POV: **I looked down at the waterskin that Toph gave me. It was about the same size of my waterskin! I healed Aang with only a few drops. A few drops healed a cut the size of my palm, and I needed a whole waterskin to heal Sokka? What did Azula do to him? I looked inside; the water was practically glowing.

Toph had told us everything that we needed to know about how to save Sokka. Apparently Toph and I have to go down and free Sokka as quick as we can, without any fighting beforehand. Azula will try to intercept us, but she will also be trying to capture Aang, so Aang needs to get in between Sokka and Azula. Then I heal him with the water, but Toph must be touching him during the whole process. The Dai Li had wiped his memory of all of our faces and voices, so he won't know who we are. I was upset that he didn't remember what his own sister looks like, but I didn't have time to think about that.

Sokka was allowed his sword for the beginning of the fight. He had to always stay close to Toph for some reason. Mainly, as soon as we have Sokka back, we're getting everyone together and leaving. This wasn't a fight to try and conquer; it was just to get back Sokka.

I felt bad for Appa. Even though the capital wasn't far, he had to carry eight people there, and nine back. He had only ever carried five people before for a long amount of time. I looked around at the lot of us. Aang was steering, and constantly whispering encouraging words to Appa. We hadn't flown so fast since the battle two weeks ago, and when we were trying to get to Roku's temple for the Solstice. Toph was just looking around impatiently. She was clearly restless for the battle. Zuko was talking to Iroh about everything that had happened to him, because for some strange reason, it had never come up between them in the past two weeks. They were also talking about strategies for shooting lightning, and how to control it so it goes exactly where you want it to. Mai and Ty Lee were catching up as well. Haru seemed nervous, which I didn't blame him for. He had never been on a mini mission with the Gaang. He had fought the Battle of Coal Brig with several other earthbenders. It had become a legendary battle. And he had fought at the Day of Black Sun with the other invaders, but never had he done anything this covert.

I had also never healed any one with water from the Spirit World. I had healed Aang with water from the Spirit Oasis, but not the other Spiritual Plane! I was a bit nervous. I had also never had help with healing someone, none the less, an earthbender. I didn't know if I was up to this. But I have to be; this is my brother.

Right as we went around, yet another mountain, I saw the Capital, and right outside it was a large metal box, just screaming to the world "Hi! I'm a prison; people are in fact, tortured here! Have a great day!" Aang saw it too, but he seemed more occupied by the five hundred or so guards. Aang jumped down from Appa, and used earthbending to knock out about sixty firebenders. And thus, the battle began.

It took the rest of us a minute to get down, what with all the guys shooting fire at Appa. Zuko and Iroh stopped, redirected, and dissolved several of them so Appa could land safely, then we leapt into battle mode.

I was ready to make a run for the door and hoped we weren't attacked, but Toph stopped me, and did an intricate move, spreading her arms far apart. Just then, all of the guards standing in our way to the door were knocked to either side, giving us a clear path.

"Now we go!" Toph sarcastically said to me, as she started to run, me close at her heels. We dashed into the prison and began looking in every cell but it was taking too long.

"Toph, can you find Sokka with metalbending?" She didn't respond, but crouched down and touched her hands to the floor. She frowned and looked up at me.

"I would say he's three rows down to the left, and five up because of the heartbeat. But this person's breathing is shallower, more ragged, and more forced. It's hard to believe that's him."

"Yeah, because this is like the nice spa-like prison, and the actual _torture _prison is across the street! Plus Azula would be going fairly easy on him! And the Earth Spirit only gave me this waterskin because it matches my eyes!" Sarcasm dripped on my tongue. Toph gave me an exasperated look.

"Three rows down and five cells up it is!" And she pulled me over to where Sokka's cell was. Just as I rounded the corner, I gasped as I saw my half naked brother badly beaten with serious burns. He had several cut marks all over his body, a huge stab mark on his shoulder, behind his knee, and a huge bruise right below his neck, at the top of his chest. There were huge blood stains on his pants, covering his body, and pools of it on the ground. It looked as if hell had chewed him up and spat him out, into Azula's clutches.

I shoved back the tears threatening to spill over my eyes, and took a step towards my brother so we could heal him. He quickly crawled nervously back, towards the edge of the cell. He had no clue who I was! A tear escaped my eye then, and I hastened to wipe it away, not wanting any one to see.

**Sokka's POV: **I sat up straight when I heard loud footsteps. It couldn't be the Gaang. They would need time to prepare for the battle, and Appa would be slow because of how many people he was carrying. Not to mention, there is no way they could fight their way through that many guards in that little time. I expected them to be here by about tomorrow. Maybe late at night tonight, but I knew that the two girls in front of me weren't Toph or Katara. Probably just two female guards who slipped into Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom clothes. Or maybe Princess Azula ordered two girls who lived in the capital to do this.

The Water Tribe looking one stepped closer to me. I shuffled away, slightly nervous. I didn't want her to get close enough to hurt me. I was slightly surprised when I saw a tear fall down her face. She must be a good actor. But if she was hired by Azula, she probably wouldn't have tried to hide the tear, she would've made a point to show me. Instead, she let some hair fall in front of 

her face to hide her and quickly wiped her tears away. Could this be my sister after all? I doubted it.

Just then, the Earth clothed girl walked up to me. I didn't react quickly enough and she had me cornered. I shut my eyes, expecting fire blasts to come at my stomach or something, but it didn't come. I opened my eyes slightly, allowing myself to look at the two girls. The blue one just stood where she did when she first came in. The green one had knelt right in front of me.

"Sokka! Come on! You have to remember something!" The girl looked at me pleadingly. I looked hard at her, hoping for some memory to come, just the slightest image that would help me remember her face. Nothing came.

Tentatively, she wrapped her hands in mine. The moment our hands met, my entire body was warmed considerably, and I felt as if I was glowing. Everything fell away for a second; the cell, that other girl, the three legged chair, the entire world fell away to just us. Then I felt my eyes pulse, and all the images and sounds of this girl came back into my memory. It was her, they had come!

"T…Toph?" I asked timidly. She looked up again, with tears in her eyes too, and opened her mouth slightly to speak. After a second, she gave up on words and just nodded. I couldn't believe it! I pulled her into a tight hug, and she hugged me back.

After a bit, I regretfully pulled away, and looked back at the blue girl. Toph just nodded again as if she read my mind. That means the blue girl had to be…

"Katara…" I said under my breath as she came in for a tight hug. I hugged her back just as tightly. She leaned slightly onto my shoulder, and I heard, and felt tears coming from her.

"You have no idea how worried I was about you…!" She said through tears. She finally pulled away, and looked at me. I realized I must look like a mess. She spoke up again.

"And rightfully so!" She pulled out a waterskin, and bended the water around me so it glowed a light blue. I felt all the painful burns and scars cooling and healing. All the burnt skin was being replaced by healthy, new skin, and all my painful cuts and stabs were quickly disappearing. Then Toph grabbed my hands again as Katara moved the water over to my head. I felt more flashes, and every image and voice of all my friends came flooding back to me. First was Katara, then Aang, then Zuko and Iroh, and Mai, and my Dad. Finally, when all the water had evaporated, realized I was breathing heavily, squeezing Toph's hands tight. I quickly let go of it, partially because of the heavy blush in my cheeks, partially because I was afraid that I'd break her hand!

Toph pulled something off her back and handed it to me. I saw that it was my sword. I had missed it!

"Now we have to go! Everyone else is holding off the army outside, but if, and when Azula comes, it will be near impossible to get away with everyone." I froze. I didn't want any one locked up in a cell, having the things done to them that were done to me. Toph started running, 

and Katara and I followed her. On the ground a bit away was my shirt. It was dusty and disgusting, but I pulled it on as I was running.

When I first stepped into the sunlight, I squinted. I hadn't been anywhere except my dark, and badly lit cell. I had forgotten how nice the sun felt.

But there was no time to take it all in. There was a huge battle going on. Everyone was here; Haru, Aang, Zuko, Mai, Iroh, and if I was seeing correctly, Ty Lee was actually fighting the guards, which meant she was on our side! My mind paused a second before I got it. She had to be our second reversal.

But someone else was fighting. And that someone else was Azula. She and Aang were fighting each other. Aang seemed better equipped to fight her, but so did she.

It seemed the entire Gaang was tiring. I robotically knocked over guard after guard, while watching my friends. I'd shift my gaze, Toph, Aang, Zuko, Toph, Katara, Toph, Mai, Aang, Toph, Aang, Katara, Toph…

I kept going back to Toph, no matter what. Right now, she was taking on 250 firebenders all by herself. That was half of the army right there! And she was tiring. More than anything, I wanted to help her, to help them all. Toph said I make every one strong… why can I never do anything when it's needed?

Suddenly I gasped. I felt something burning under my chest. I sheathed my sword, because I would've dropped it a second later. This feeling of something inside me made me collapse to the ground. My entire body started to pulsate, and I looked to see that my skin was glowing!

There was something inside me, forcing its way out. My body was so heated, but not in a bad way, like Azula burning my body, in the way of the heat I felt whenever Toph and I touched. I felt myself lifting off the ground, eyes closed, breathing hard.

Then I heard Toph's voice in my head, almost as if I could hear her thoughts in my head.

"Sokka, it's you! The special ability, it's not about Aang, it's about you! I could see it all along. That's your ability, you see and understand people, and your personality glows! That's your gift, you make us strong!"

I was spinning, and I could see what was happening. All of my friends seemed to be glowing. Toph was sparkling a vibrant green, doing more powerful earthbending than I had ever seen before. In fact, every bender we had seemed to be glowing like their element. Aang's arrows were glowing white, but he wasn't in the Avatar State, because his eyes remained normal.

That was all I saw before I blacked out.

**Toph's POV: **I had 'seen' everything. Sokka's fighting got more robotic, and then he put his sword away. I was silently screaming at him if he had a suicide wish. Then I felt him collapse. 

He felt as I he was being overtaken. Almost like I was with the lightning, only he felt as if he was being overtaken by a person, or a person-like thing.

I don't know how I'd explain it. Sort of like how the earth felt before Rhea had taken shape, when she was still in the earth. So, did that mean Sokka had a spirit inside him?

Then I felt him lift off the ground, and I couldn't see him anymore. But according to what Katara told me later, he had been glowing a bright light. After that, I felt different too, more powerful kind of. I continued battling, and noticed that I was so much stronger. I could always do a lot with the earth, but now I was about doubly powerful. I could probably create an earthquake, and not just a miniature one that any earthbender can do, a huge one, like in nature.

All the while, I felt around. Every other bender on our side had gained bending strength none of us had ever conceived, whereas, Azula's guards, and Azula herself seemed cruder around the firebending edges. I got it. That was Sokka's ability, he literally made us strong!

Since I couldn't see Sokka, I focused totally on my attackers. If I'm gonna be temporarily uber powerful, I'm gonna enjoy it. I laughed as these guys charged by the hundreds, more just spilling in. They have no idea how screwed they are! I punched the ground, and about sixty firebenders were encased in rock bindings, that just so happened to be fifty feet in the air. I smirked as I opened up a mini canyon, fifty feet deep all around us, making hundreds fall in my pit. I then pulled up a huge wall right at one end of the canyon, ensuring that we wouldn't have any more newcomers.

Only about five hundred firebenders and crazy Azula against six benders, two fighters, and one human power up. I almost felt bad for them; the odds weren't in their favor. The smart thing on their part would be to take Sokka out, but none of them had time for that because several uber powerful benders and insanely talented fighters were kicking their butts before logic could even reach their mind.

Ty Lee was taking out guards in spurts of about twenty. I was positive that I heard her obnoxious giggling all the way across the field. I knew it was her, because only that giggly acrobat could make my ears bleed without cutting me or anything.

Mai was shooting daggers everywhere. I could feel that she mainly pinned people down; she never was one for actually hurting people. I had noticed that in all the times we fought. She would always pin someone to a tree and just leave them there. I wonder if she ever spilled anyone's blood.

Katara and I were fighting back to back. She could take out just as many guys as I could, and I found it hilarious that we were maintaining conversation while we were totally braining these dorks. She was keeping me informed on all the stuff vibrations couldn't sense.

"Wow, Sokka can take away power too! He has Azula down to using regular red fire instead of her usual creepy blue fire. She seems very upset over this." I felt her do some intricate move, and 

about fifty guards were covered in ice and stuck on trees. It was hilarious how we were joking as we did this.

"Wow, really! This is definitely an 'I wish I wasn't blind' moment. Just so I could see her face." Neither of us had noticed that Aang was within a hearing distance of our conversation.

"Just to see Azula's face?" She had me pinned.

"Nah, I kinda want to know what glowing looks like."

"On Sokka?" It was more of a question than a statement, we both knew it. I was gonna have to answer truthfully. I knocked about forty firebenders into the next century, then quickly turned to make a face at her, before turning back around to attack the oncoming guards.

"On everyone… but yeah, mainly Sokka."

We had lowered the guard count from about almost one thousand, to a mere two hundred plus Azula in under twenty minutes. But, when I next went to knock out another fifty or so, I felt my power start to diminish. I knew this wasn't good.

"Katara, how's Sokka doing!" The moment she heard my urgent voice, I felt her spin around. I also felt her heart skip a beat. She didn't say anything, and I freaked. "Katara! Was he hit?" She just stood there. My panic was giving me an extra boost of energy to shout at her while still fighting all the guards coming at me, plus Katara's now too. "Katara! Answer me god damn it!" She finally snapped out of it, and started fighting again.

"He was glowing a bright white before, but now he's flickering. I think he's exhausting his, whatever it is. Plus he's putting in more energy than he's got. He won't be able to hold up much longer."

"You sure?"

"Positive, I'm using the water in the air as a catalyst to see how he's doing, and he's barely holding up. He exhausted his natural energy a minute ago, now he's running on pure adrenaline, and something else, I'm not sure what!" My eyes widened as I heard this. We needed to get out of here, now!

"I'm gonna Morse Aang. He can hear vibrations all the time now, and I've been teaching Haru about it too, so he might hear. They can tell Zuko, Iroh, Ty Lee, and Mai. Cover me while I tap it out, I need to make sure I've got it all right!"

Katara and I quickly switched places, with her covering me. I made sure the message was all perfect, and loud for Haru, who had not completely mastered the technique. I had just finished tapping when I felt Aang and Haru flinch simultaneously. Aang tapped back that he wanted me to trap Azula partially underground while he spread the word. I quickly did it, then reverted back to my own fight.

Just then, I felt Sokka touch the earth again. He was unconscious, and barely breathing. I reacted by creating a wall, cutting off most of the firebenders from us. There was still a few left, but Zuko quickly took care of them.

Carefully, I earthbended Sokka towards Appa, but I felt Azula about to do something. I involuntarily jerked Sokka away, but didn't have time to react to protect Appa. Some bushes took most of the heat, but Appa was still burned badly.

Ty Lee threw Azula into unconsciousness with a few touches, but it was too late, the damage had been done. I was still caring to Sokka, and only barely heard Katara speak.

"The good news is, the burn was fairly diluted, so Appa should be fine. The bad news is, it is so spread out, that I can't heal him with the puny amount of water I have left, and at this moment, the air is pretty dry, and the bushes are burned, I can't heal Appa here. And Appa can't fly without healing!" Even though I only partly heard her, somehow, my brain processed. I gently lifted Sokka onto Appa, then walked over to a softer spot of earth.

"Everyone stay close to me. You can even sit on Appa if you like, makes it easier for me." Everyone crowded in. "Aang, this is one of your last moves you have to learn, so study closely.

Then, I pulled every one underground with a yanking hand gesture, then once we were completely underground, I crossed my arms out in front of me, then stepped open, flinging my arms out sideways like a spread Hawk-Eagle. I felt the earth shift around us, as I replaced the piece of earth holding us, with a piece of earth the same size from the walls of the Western Air Temple. I knocked over the wall, and every one stepped out.

**Aang's POV: **I was amazed at how Toph had gotten us here in seconds. We stepped out by the fountain, and Katara immediately started healing Appa, but paused and looked at me.

"Come here Aang, I've been teaching you the basics of healing, a simple burn shouldn't be a problem for you." I was surprised, but I reluctantly bended some fountain water onto my hands, and rubbed Appa's burned fur and skin, soothing it. Once all the water disappeared, I saw Appa's perfect fur. I had done it, I was a healer!

But something tugged at my mind, and I turned to see Toph, sitting over Sokka's unconscious body. She had taken the liberty of changing the hard ground underneath him to powder white sand. Sokka looked fine basically, but he seemed tired. I immediately knew that Katara couldn't heal him with water, this was something spiritual, and it took time. Toph didn't seem to get that. I heard her whispering, but cut off my tears.

"Come on Sokka, you gotta get up now! Here's the part where we're all supposed to catch up, and make jokes, and laugh. Aang's supposed to talk about how far he's gotten in bending, and how he's almost reached mastery in two of his remaining three elements. And he'd also talk about this scroll he got from Gyatso with airbending forms on it. And Katara would've talked about yet another variation of rice that she would've come up with. And we would tap out jokes 

about this being the eighth new rice variation she's come up with for dinner, just to take away from the fact that all we're eating every day is rice. And we would both regret buying so much rice during those scams. But, you have to get up, so we can talk about all that random and goofy stuff, and make jokes, and laugh for the first time in weeks. Later, Aang will probably drill you about what Azula did, and I would totally understand you wanting to sleep through that, rather than relive it, but if I know you, you wouldn't miss out on the rice jokes for almost anything. Maybe we could try and get some meat to put in our rice… except for Aang's of course, because he's Veggie Man, but, just for you, I bet I could convince her… but you have to wake up, soon! Cuz there are people over here who've missed you. Katara missed you, Aang missed you, pretty much every one missed you. Me too. I missed you too! I missed you like hell… so you gotta wake up so we can make rice jokes…"

We all just quietly stood, listening to Toph's upset babble. She was getting more and more worked up by each word. I had no doubt anymore that Toph likes Sokka back. After she was cut off my tears, which I had never seen her shed before, we just stood there, letting the words sink in, and hoping against our smarter judgment, that Sokka somehow miraculously heard that, and would wake up. But I knew that that wouldn't happen.

So we all just stood, watching our friend cry over Sokka's unconscious body. If he had overworked his energy the way Katara described it, then he wouldn't wake up for at least a week. No one wanted to disturb Toph, but finally, she did stand up and she turned to us.

"I'll take him to his room and get him on the bed. Maybe a good night's rest in an actual bed will help him." I nodded solemnly. Toph walked over to Katara and whispered something in her ear. Katara responded with a nod and an "Of course Toph!" Then she and Sokka disappeared into the earth, and with vibrations, I felt them coming up in Sokka's room. Once Sokka and Toph left, the Gaang quickly dispersed to their own rooms.

I turned to Katara and cocked my head with curiosity. She nodded and came over to whisper something in my ear.

"Toph is going to be sleeping in Sokka's room tonight." I nodded too, understanding her need to stay and take care of the person she loved.

Only, someone can only use up so much of their energy, before the use of it becomes fatal. I begged the Spirits that that doesn't happen.


	18. Sickness?

**No, Sokka isn't dead. You'll find that out here. Hope you like it. I added a little joke from season one at the end.**

**Disclaimer: Don't tell the Oompa Loompas, but I don't own Avatar. (They don't know that...)**

**(Inside joke, sorry!)**

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Chapter 18: Sickness?

**Katara's POV: **For the next day and a half, Toph stayed with Sokka without ever leaving his sight. I'd bring them meals, and visit my brother regularly. Other people came to see how he was doing, but Toph would always respond the same way.

"Just as non-moving and non-wakey as he was three hours ago when Mai came in to ask the same thing!" We all knew to stay out of her way, except when we really wanted to see Sokka.

Aang was smart enough not to press for any earthbending lessons, even though he only had a few techniques left. Instead he worked with me on some of the few remaining techniques he had with me, all he had left was the more difficult healing lessons, pulling water out of the air, out of plants, and bloodbending. I abhorred the technique, but I'd rather have some random guard be forced to the ground than for the love of my life to be killed in battle. There was also one experimental technique, mixing waterbending and airbending that I wanted to see if I could pull off. He was also catching up with his most recent element. He worked more rigorously than ever at firebending with Iroh and Zuko. Zuko taught him better about the power he could get from firebending, and how to draw up, and use that energy, and fighting spirit to add to your power. He said that the principle of firebending is that you shouldn't need strong defenses if your opponent is down before he can attack, and Zuko was a perfect teacher to show Aang that. Iroh knew more about control, and balance, and showed how to control his firebending, and about the technique behind each move.

I have to say, travelling with benders from each of the four Nations has really helped my battling. Not only am I using Water Tribe philosophies to practice my bending, I am also using techniques from each of the other Four Nations. Not to mention, Sokka's help in the battle has given me a wider range of power now too. Hama was only able to draw a fist-full of water from the air; I can dry out the entire cliff, or suspend, and condense all of the water in the air. I have also been learning a bit more about healing from one of my greatest fears until recently; Ty Lee. She understands the human body so well, and can immediately see where there is damage, and where to heal to fix it. Apparently, she had sometimes helped heal Sokka when he was in prison, only, using medicine instead of water. Every day I'd either be teaching Aang, talking with Aang, preparing yet another rice meal, and trying to take away from the fact that it's rice again by adding things to it, talking with Ty Lee about different methods of healing in the body, practicing waterbending, varying forms of style constantly, or going to see Sokka.

Today, I saw Aang running towards me while I was practicing waterbending. I was trying to create a Kraken-like thing, kind of like what I saw Zuko do once in a battle. Seeing his face, I immediately knew something was wrong.

"Teo… is sick… or hurt… or something…"

I was surprised; I usually don't see Teo, although I know he had been reading up about the Airbenders. I knew he was fascinated with them, and considered himself more of an Air Nomad than an Earth Kingdom citizen. His personality pointed to the same thing. He was such a be happy, go lucky kid, and I couldn't imagine him sick!

I followed Aang to Teo's room, where I saw him in his wheelchair. He could recline it and make it a bed, and that was what he always did. Now, he was in pain, squirming in his chair, and scratching fiercely at his skin, which was pale and sweaty. His head was pulled as far back as it could go, with a constant wincing plastered on his face.

I immediately bended a bit of water to help soothe him, and Ty Lee, who was here for some reason, was suggesting places that I should run over on his head that would calm down his frazzled nerves. But just as I was about to reach out to start the relaxing process, the water mysteriously evaporated. Confused, I twisted by body around to bend more water out of my waterskin, but I found I could no longer bend. I frowned and looked at Ty Lee, confused.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" I believed her, she seemed genuinely surprised. Just then, I saw Toph popping out of the floor with some earthbending transportation.

"Katara, you'd better come, quick! Something's happening with Sokka! I can't see what because of the blindness, and anyway, I think he needs a healer!" I was worried, how can I help Teo and Sokka at the same time? How can I help either without my bending? I looked at Aang, asking Ty Lee about if she could see anything about how he's hurt. Wait, Aang!

"Aang, I can't take care of both Sokka and Teo! So here's your crash course in healing!" Aang looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Are you serious! I just figured out minor burns, and can't completely heal cuts yet, and you want me to try healing one of them? We don't even know what is happening with them!"

"Aang, for now, just go with Toph and examine Sokka's condition with earthbending, waterbending too if there's nothing apparent. If he's worse off than Teo, come and get me! Kay?"

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Aang finally replied. I gave him a 'yeah right' glance, and jokingly responded, trying to loosen the tension.

"What are you talking about? Of course I don't!" He smiled grimly, then let the earth swallow him and Toph up. The moment they were gone I turned my attention back to Teo.

**Aang's POV: **I popped into Sokka's room with Toph, and quickly closed up the floor before I turned to Sokka. He was still unconscious, but now he was glowing a bright yellow. I breathed deeply, then turned to Toph.

"He's glowing again, this time it's yellow. I'm going to track him in spirit, so I'll be out of my body. Kind of like how Sokka is now. I'm gonna find out what's going on with him." With that, I touched his forehead, giving me that slipping feeling of crossing over spiritual planes. Then, when I opened my eyes next, I was in the Spirit World; at least, that's what I assumed. It really just looked like the top of a mountain, with a single Elder Tree positioned only several feet from the center of the Mountaintop.

Then I noticed that Teo was there but at a closer look, I saw that it wasn't him actually. Just an image of him, sort of like a wooden doll. Next to the Teo doll was a person like thing. (He, I'm sure it was a he... I think) I'm also assuming it was a spirit, cuz, hello, Spirit World! I wondered what the Earth Spirit Toph met looked like. This spirit was a person mold, with arms, legs, a head, neck, and main body, but no details. He looked like he was created out of dry clouds. Also, the cloud/man/spirit had arrows all over his body, just like me.

This was the Air Spirit. He was doing some weird gestures while looking down at the Teo Doll. He unwrapped a long piece of cloth that was tightly covering both of the Teo Doll's legs. Then he mysteriously took some clouds from himself, and rubbed them on the Doll's stomach, creating three swirls. I just stood watching, having no clue what was going on.

Then I felt a tap on the shoulder. I spun around to see one person I had been looking for, but hadn't expected to find: Sokka.

"Hey, Aang, good t' see ya. But, honestly, did you crawl backwards into the Spirit World? What took you so long?" I cracked a smile, then ran to hug my brother. "Jeez Aang, you'd think air wouldn't be a problem with an airbender around!" I pulled out of the hug, deciding to act all jokingly offended.

"I just missed you, you dope! But, if you're upset with me, I guess I'll just go, and wait for you to get out of your mystical coma!" He smiled too, but before we could catch up, curiosity took over me. "Hey, where are we?"

"I have no idea, I was just dragged here after I was KO'd (a/n knocked out) and have been watching various jelly people, weird creatures, some people-looking spirits just walking around."

"Yeah, the Spirit World tends to be like that. It gets annoying sometimes." I tried to sympathize.

"Yeah… well at least you didn't meet that weird, rude monkey guy!" He said it casually, and I had to contain a laugh.

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**The Monkey Guy was from The Siege at the North Part Two.**

**Ha ha!**

**No, neither Teo, nor Sokka is dead, so don't ask me about that. If you do, you'll get a very pissed response.**


	19. The Giver

**Yay! Ty Lee's POV again! **

**The Tokkaneers will love this, and I am starting to introduce my surprise pairing. I'm pretty sure that no one else has ever writen this pairing so... yay me!**

**Disclaimer: Well, I was playing poker with Brian and Mike last night and I was doing good so I was like "I see your bet and raise you the show of Avatar" and I called that I had four aces... but they had five aces, so I don't own the show... still. Crap!**

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Chapter 19: The Giver

**Ty Lee's POV:** When I first came here, Teo was the first person who was friendly towards me, he had so much spirit, and carefree happiness, and freedom, and I liked that. I had never met anyone as carefree like me, who wasn't trying to attack me. It was hard to see him sick and, almost trapped.

Mai said that when she first came here, Toph, the blind earthbender had been the first friendly one, except for Zuko, of course. She and Toph both had a lot in common. She said they both had over controlling parents, and therefore both had trouble opening up to people. That was like me and Teo, he both were so open, and light hearted. He was my buddy. I miss my buddy!

Since Katara couldn't waterbend, I tried to use some medicine that I had on him, but it just evaporated too. Teo looked as if he was really hurting, he kept squirming, and jerking.

But he suddenly calmed a bit, and stopped moving all together. Everyone who was there was happily surprised. We hadn't done anything. After guessing that medicine and healing wouldn't work, we just stopped trying, and I gave in to holding his hand and squeezing it. Concentrating on his being, I glanced at his face, and noticed that there was some other aura around his, almost helping, or changing, him. I had no clue what was going on.

Then the mysterious aura left, and we heard the crash of a wall falling in. It was Sokka, and he was glowing yellow, like during the battle. I felt like blushing when I saw him, but now wasn't the time to get all blushy over him. He loves someone else, plus, my friend was in trouble.

Sokka walked up to Teo, who also began to glow a pale yellow. But, didn't only benders react this way to glowy Sokka? And, isn't yellow an air nomad color?

"Time and time again, you prove your worth, and dedication to the air. You have roots among the lands of earth, but your roots mean less, and the air is where you were raised, and therefore, your stronger spirit. A person chooses his path through his actions, not his ancestors; and you've chosen yours. The Powers That Be feel it wise to grant you the same gifts of the air that you have helped raise back to strength."

Sokka made no sense. And his voice was different, kind of echo-y. Toph tumbled into the room after him, making sure he was ok. The non-Sokka looked at Teo, who was now glowing yellow too, then turned to us to speak.

"I must leave this vessel, take care, of both this child of the wind, and this body I am in. For he is the Giver, and must be shown love."

With that, the non-Sokka collapsed, his knees giving way. Toph was making sure he was ok. The Avatar, who I know as Aang also stumbled into the room, looking tired. Katara immediately ran to see if he was ok, just as Toph was doing to Sokka. I just dragged myself to look at Teo. He sat unmoving for a moment, then started to groan, and sit up, while holding his head. I went and hugged him.

"Don't ever do that again, you dope!" I said, while still hugging him. He looked shocked.

"Do what?"

"Collapse on the ground, then become unable to be healed! It scared the crap out of me… uh, and everyone else." For some reason, it felt like my stomach turned over then. I tried to ignore it, wondering what it was.

"Umm…sorry?" I giggled, and finally broke out of the hug. He wheeled around to see Aang shakily standing up, Katara propping him up. But that's not what drew most of the attention. The big crowd pleaser was when Sokka shakily sat up.

**Toph's POV: **I hadn't remembered feeling happier than when I heard Sokka groan, then start to sit up. I smiled hugely and Sokka just looked around. I knew everyone was watching, but, I didn't care about them, the only thing on my mind was that Sokka was awake. He shakily pulled himself to a sitting position, and I felt his eyes on me.

"Toph… you've grown!" I grinned as he said it, just before I pulled him into a hug. Leave it to Sokka to notice how tall I've gotten. He hugged back, just as hard.

**Sokka's POV:** I heard a groan as I groggily sat up. My head really hurt. One minute, I was passing out on a battlefield, the next minute I'm catching up with Aang while watching a cloud person massage a Teo doll, then I wake up with the whole gaang, plus Ty Lee looking at me, and Toph just sitting there, looking incredible.

Toph. The moment I looked at her, the earth just fell away. Since I'd been gone, her clothes have gotten dirtier, if it was possible, and wrinkled. Little pieces of hair were falling out of her careful bun, and she looked slightly thinner. She looked as if she had gotten taller. My guess is that she was just about Katara's height now. And she had filled out in other places too…

"Toph… you've grown!" That was all I could say before I was attacked into a huge hug. I hugged back just as tightly, savoring this moment, remembering everything. She smelled of the warm earth, and flowers, and apples. The smell of apples is now my new favorite scent. I took it all in before she remorsefully pulled away.

"Snoozles, I think you've set a new record! Three and a half days without any one being able to wake you up!" I just grinned. Yup, definitely Toph.

"So, besides my little power nap, and my play date with Azula, did anything happen?" I finally remembered that the whole gaang was there, and asked every one the question.

Everyone started talking at once. I heard something about bending from Aang, Katara, Zuko, Iroh, and Haru. Mai mentioned something about Ty Lee, who waved at me. The Duke kept talking about all the people he knew that glowed, and I was surprised to hear Teo added to the list. Teo just seemed tired, and he was sweating. I was a little overwhelmed, trying to follow all of this. I waved back to Ty Lee, kept nodding at the Duke, and tried to keep up with every one's 

bending talk. A little rumble of earth, coming from Toph shut every one up. I smiled at her gratefully.

"I'll summarize before you people traumatize him." Toph loudly yelled at every one, then turned to me. "You were captured, Katara fell apart, Zuko can make lightning, I got addicted to the charges made by lightning, Aang's been learning the elements, especially firebending, Ty Lee joined the group, and she brought an airbending scroll for Aang from Monk Gyatso, it has three moves on it, one of it is supposed to be really against Aang's beliefs. Ty Lee's been teaching the Duke what she can do, so has Mai. The group fell apart, I met an earth spirit who helped me find you, I got to see every one when I was in the Spirit World. We came, we saved you, we fought, you got all glowy, then the energy went dry and you went into a coma. We came back, Teo got sick, you came in, glowing, and making him glow too. You said something we couldn't understand, Teo woke up. You woke up. And that's the two minute review of the last three weeks! Oh yeah, and Katara also came up with another rice recipe!"

Toph took a breath. I just gaped. The gaang fell apart? Zuko can make lightning? Toph got addicted to something? Ty Lee joined the group? Toph got addicted to something? Teo got sick? Toph went to the Spirit world? Katara made another rice recipe… although that one didn't surprise me. Toph got addicted to something?! My mind buzzed even more than it did when everyone was talking at once.

"Whoa!"

"I know, this is, like, Katara's twentieth rice combo! Now it's rice and fire flakes… and some fire nation sauce, called Tabasco sauce. Only Mai, Zuko, and Iroh liked it, but of course THEY would!"

I smiled again at Toph's humor. It helped take my mind off of all the other junk that Toph said had happened. My mind was still wrapping around the concept of the whole Toph addicted thing. She was the last person I'd expect to be addicted, Zuko maybe…

"C'mon, I'll get you to your room and fix up your wall." I nodded as Aang said it. I could talk to him about everything.

As soon as we were out of earshot, Aang turned to me, still walking and whispered something in my ear. "Y'know, she fell apart while you were gone. I know she likes you!" I blushed, and got slightly defensive.

"How do you know."

"I can tell someone who loves someone, and thinks it's unrequited."

"Oh? How?"

"I've liked someone for a while, and just found out that it wasn't one sided. She shows my same exact symptoms. In fact, so do you… you people are both idiots!" I ignored his remark because I was curious at who Aang's new girl is.

"Who is she?"

"What!?" Aang's voice sped up a lot. I smirked at seeing him squirm. He wasn't getting out of this one.

"Who is the girl you said you've liked for a long time?"

"No one!"

"I'm not giving in!"

"I'll tell you later!" I frowned, but shrugged.

"Fine, I'll hold you to that!" And I quickly stored it in my brain for later. We turned the corner into my room, and Aang patched up the hole that Toph and I made. I sat down on the bed.

"Aang, what's happening to me… with the glowing?" He looked surprised at the question, but just looked down as he talked.

"I don't know. If I can find a way to get to the Spirit world, maybe I can talk to Roku about it, but otherwise, I would know just as much as you." Aang sighed, and continued to look down for a moment, but then his head popped up, looking like he had a genius idea. "Maybe it goes into further detail in the prophesy!"

I sat up too. That was a good idea. But I had no clue where it was. Aang apparently did though, because he ran to a drawer of mine, and pulled out the familiar scroll that only the boys used. Since it wasn't original, I bet we could write on it. I pulled out a brush then looked at Aang for permission to write notes on it. He nodded. I quickly started scribbling notes, and when I was done, I showed it to Aang.

_A Reversal is in order, soon to make two. Ty Lee & Mai switch sides_

_Talk about it, you won't be disappointed. Katara, ?_

_Tell her to let her walls crumble, it isn't just one way. Toph, ?_

_He has more than he knows, but first she must get close. Sokka, glowy ability_

_He needs to fulfill all three, despite how he feels, he should be happy, he is different.?_

I showed my notes to Aang. He looked over them, and then started commenting.

"I already talked to Katara about something, it was a good conversation. Apparently, Katara told Toph that similar thing before, and I think it has to do with you and her…" Time to cut Aang off.

"Why would the Spirits write a prophesy about love? I bet it's something else. What about the line under it?"

"We thought it was about me before, but I guess it's you. I guess what you have, would be the glowy, power boost thing. It's almost like the Avatar State, because I was glowing white, except for my eyes. Plus, every other bender went all glowy with their element, so, you're like the power button, only with added power. It's the second sentence of that line I don't quite get. For me to master the Avatar State, I had ta push away from earthly attachments, you get to get close to them… lucky bastard!" I smiled, and Aang continued. "Oh look! And you have to get close to a girl, gee, who can that be, let me think!"

I rolled my eyes at his obviously feigned ignorance. I shoved him and he just grinned at my wryly. I wanted to protest against what he was suggesting, but one thing stopped him from denying what Aang was saying. That one thing was the memory of my first glowfest.

_Flashback:_

_It seemed the entire Gaang was tiring. I robotically knocked over guard after guard, while watching my friends. I'd shift my gaze, Toph, Aang, Zuko, Toph, Katara, Toph, Mai, Aang, Toph, Aang, Katara, Toph…_

_I kept going back to Toph, no matter what. Right now, she was taking on 250 firebenders all by herself. That was half of the army right there! And she was tiring. More than anything, I wanted to help her, to help them all. Toph said I make every one strong… why can I never do anything when it's needed?_

_Suddenly I gasped. I felt something burning under my chest. I sheathed my sword, because I would've dropped it a second later. This feeling of something inside me made me collapse to the ground. My entire body started to pulsate, and I looked to see that my skin was glowing!_

_End flashback_

"That only means that we are close friends, it never mentions anything more or less. Plus, it doesn't help me understand much about what it is, only that I need someone else, who just so happens to be Toph, to unlock my power-thingy."

"What about the last line? Will that help explain anything?"

"Nah, it's about someone else." I read over the last line after I said it. Something clicked in my brain "I think it's about you!"

"How do you know?

"Someone needs to complete three of something, no matter what they think. Well, it is a 'he', and, you have that airbending scroll with three moves. Well, Toph said one is supposed to go 

against beliefs, so maybe it's saying you gotta learn all three, no matter how much you hate that one! I don't know what the last sentence means though."

Aang started to nod as he looked at the line. I felt proud, that was one of the few ideas I had contributed to the KP deduction.

"Yeah! That sounds right! Boy, I missed working on the KP! Once you were captured, no one looked at it. No one even thought about it! I put it in your room, because I knew you thought about it a lot. Anyway, I'll try to contact Roku tonight, 'till then, I've almost mastered earth, and waterbending, I'll see if I can knock those out of the way, and I'll try to learn the airbending too, but now, I'm gonna go see if Teo's ok. Wanna come?"

"Nah, I'm gonna rest."

"Ok, see ya!" And Aang left. I just laid down on my bed and moved myself up to the pillow. It smelled like flowers and apples, and warm earth. Toph must have been here, but why? I didn't think about it for now, I just closed my eyes and concentrated on the sweet smell on my pillow. That was how I fell asleep.

**Katara's POV: **After Aang got Sokka out of the room, we all decided to talk about what the heck just happened with Teo and my brother.

"So, what the hell happened?" Toph was always so blunt.

"Well, Teo got sick, Sokka came in all yellow-y, then Teo got all yellow-y, then Teo woke up, then Sokka woke up, then Ty Lee crushed Teo in a hug, while Toph smothered Sokka." Mai just about summed it up.

"Ok, but what the hell happened?" Toph repeated. I sighed, I think that we already déjà'd this vu. Teo opened his mouth to say something, but then Ty Lee, who was staring at Teo's legs, for some reason, spoke up.

"Teo, your feet…" We all curiously turned, then go what she was saying, we all nearly choked. Ty Lee finished her sentence, though she didn't need to. "They're moving."

I just gaped as Teo just stared at his legs, and Ty Lee started unwrapping the bandages. At the end of the long piece of cloth, sat two perfect legs, legs that he could move.

Teo cautiously bent his legs a few times before trying to stand up. He could do it perfectly, he tried walking, and running, and he could do all of them.

Oh spirits! Sokka, or whatever was possessing Sokka, had given Teo his legs back!

--

A few hours later, I was still playing over today's events in my mind. I could barely concentrate on making the rice recipe for tonight; apple rice with an apple blossom flower on the top. That flower is known to be edible, and very good. I hoped it would get a better response than the Fire 

Flakes and Tabasco Sauce Rice got. Iroh, Zuko, and Mai liked it, everyone else, including me, ferociously downed the contents fountain trying to cool our burnt tongues.

I sighed, and turned to Aang, asking him to try my rice. He cautiously took a bite, then he grinned and kissed me gently.

"This is the best recipe yet! I have to say! It made the Tabasco and Fire Flake one worthwhile!" I grinned and gave him a kiss to thank him for trying it, I had found a winner for this week! I couldn't wait to surprise everyone tomorrow at dinner! I just started hiding the mini portion when I heard Teo walking over to us, being slightly supported by Ty Lee. I quickly closed the rest of it and turned towards them. She was giggling, and he was shaking his head. Then he turned to us.

"Hey guys, is it normal for someone to sneeze… and… uh… trash their room?" Teo said the last part really fast, probably so as to avoid embarrassment. I was just surprised to hear what he had said. I answered him with a "no" but at that same moment, Aang responded with a "yes." Teo stood, confused, and I suddenly choked on nothing in particular. I was such an idiot. Why else would Teo have been glowing yellow earlier?

"Teo! I think Sokka might have given you airbending powers!" Everyone reacted with surprise about what I'd just said, but it was clear that this was what happened.

"What do you know!?" Aang muttered loudly, so it was less to himself, and more towards Teo. "I finally get to be the teacher for once!"


	20. Mastery and Payback

**One of my favorite chapters to write the ending to. I also know that some of the people I asked to look over this one said they loved it.**

**Disclaimer: Le gasp! I don't own Avatar!**

**(Le gasp is copyright of Empress of pudding. I just liked it so much!)**

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Chapter 20: Mastery and Payback

**Aang's POV: **So far, this has been the most hectic day I can remember. From sunrise, which was about six hours past midnight, until noon, I trained my arrow off with Zuko and Iroh, who had finally started teaching me things besides basic kicks and punches that create fireballs. I was learning several snake-like moves, and several jets of flame that I had to just keep going. I also learned something called 'Breath of Fire', which has stayed in the Royal family, and the royal family only, until now.

I can't believe I'm learning things that no Avatar had ever known before. No other male Avatar knew how to heal people, and no Avatar ever had felt vibrations with the earth, and apparently, I was the first Avatar to learn breath of Fire too!

Then I took a quick break from bending so Teo and I started looking up things in the temple library about air spirits, and air spirits possessing people. I remember I had once connected with the Ocean Spirit when we were at the North Pole, and I had been possessed there, but I'm the Avatar. What connection would Sokka have with the Spirits? And Toph too, now that I think about it! They've both been to the Spirit world, when they shouldn't be able to. I think their relationship has something to do with it, I just wish I knew more.

While we were there, I found a few airbending scrolls that were at the beginner's level that Teo was starting out at. He started practicing right then and there, and he knocked over a bookcase by creating a gust of wind with just his breath. I knew he was going to be a quick learner. It also helped that he had recently been studying up as much as he could on the Air Nomads, and the style of airbending. If anyone deserved this gift, he did.

The library break was quick, and about ten minutes later, I was working with Toph. We had done plenty of reviews, and now, I was learning some new moves. I haven't done a lot of earthbending in the past month, so I was eager to learn those last few moves.

"Okay Aang, remember how I got all of us back here when Appa was hurt?"

"Yeah huh!" I was getting excited, I thought I knew what she was gonna say next.

"Well, I'm not gonna teach you that." I was shocked at what she said. Is she serious?!

"Say what!!"

"Damn! You're gullible! I gotta remember that! Just kidding, that's what's up next!"

"I'm gonna get you back for that, y'know!"

"Like you could!" I frowned at her remark, but didn't respond. Little gears were running in my head, a little plan was forming. I let it go for now though, I wanted to learn this move.

"What you want to do, is go underground completely, creating a little pocket for yourself. Then, you do a mix of moving the earth out from under someone's feet, and diving into the ground, and reappearing behind someone; only, it's over a long distance."

I nodded, and pocketed myself in the earth. Toph came too, and before I tried to move the earth around me, she added something else.

"Remember, you only want to switch two small pieces of earth, not everything in between. If you do move everything, entire cities can be switched around, when I was first learning this, there was this problem with the bar and the flower shop… but yeah, just keep that in mind. Also, avoid letting the top of your pocket come too, because then someone like Azula could hitch a ride."

I stored this all in my head, and tried to move us to the fountain, but it was hard to locate a small patch that far away, and only that. I mimicked Toph's gesture that I remember her doing, but instead of a quick, but gentle shift, there was an immediate and sharp jerk. When Toph shoved at the ceiling so as to make a door, we came up into Iroh's room, just under an itchy rug.

"Is this where you wanted to take us?"

"No!" I brought us down again, and tried again, the jerk was less painful, and more smooth, but I still didn't get to the fountain. We popped up in a darkened room, which had a wooden door, that looked exactly like the closed back of an airbender door. It was a secret room!

"Here? Or are you just a really terrible navigator?"

"Shh!" I looked around. Just like in the Southern Temple, there was a spiral of statues. Only, these statues were in groups of two. Always a boy and a girl, and never from the same nation, and there was no apparent pattern. Some of the statue couples were older or younger than others, but the couple itself was always similar in age. Once again, I felt I knew all of these pairs of people. In the center, there was a poem-like thing. But I didn't have time to read it before I felt Toph's fist connect with my arm.

"Ok, we're not on a date to a museum; we're supposed to be teaching you earthbending!"

"Sorry." I made a quick mental note to come back here, then climbed back into the hole. I tried going to the Fountain one last time. The transition had at least gotten smooth, and I could just glide around, only at a warp nine speed glide.

Toph made one more door, and I cautiously peeked out. I started cheering and whooping when I saw the fountain. I had done it!

"Good job Aang! Now do it ten more times!" I groaned as I went to do it, this time without Toph. I had to come up with a really good payback now! As I did ten more of those transportations, I thought of what to do.

When I came back up to the fountain, Toph had a strange metal box. I recognized it as the excess of Appa's armor that Sokka never used, and almost threw away before Toph took it. She had shaped it into this box. Before I could react to anything, she chucked me into the box, and closed it on me.

"Good job Twinkle Toes, you've mastered all kinds of earthbending transportation! But what happens if Azula catches you and tossed you into a metal box. You gonna rot in here, or can you figure out how to bend it like I did?"

"You got a little crash course instruction?"

"There is earth in there, it's just been manipulated. You have to discover the earth inside, let it know who's boss, and then, just bend it."

I closed my eyes, and started to knock against the metal, until I heard a faint pulse. I hit the same place, finding a reverberation. I hit it harder and harder, finding more and more earth, until I had everything I needed to make a substantial dent. One hard smack, and I found a large indent in my yellow cage. Now that I knew I could do it, I smiled, quietly rubbing my surprised knuckles before I slammed a hole large enough to walk out of.

I stepped out, and smirked. I was still taller than Toph, but she was growing, and it was harder to look down at her. We were both getting taller, girls just grow faster, and I was already almost Sokka's height now!

"Good job Twinkle Toes, just one more skill you have to learn before you've mastered earthbending!" I racked my brain for something I knew she could do that I couldn't. Since I got metalbending, I can't think of anything.

"Well…" I sounded way to impatient, but I guess she really wanted to be rid of me, because she didn't make me guess or anything, she just told me.

"Liebending." I stood up straight in excitement. My mind came up with the perfect revenge. "Here, I'm gonna tell one truth, then tell one lie. See if you can distinguish them and if you get it right, you have to tell me how you knew." I nodded my head.

"Ready and listening."

"Okay, I once wanted a pet Badgermole." I listened to her breathing and heartbeat. Then nodded, signaling her to give me the other statement. "Second one, my favorite fruit is a peach." I listened closer, and then nodded, this time signaling that I had my answer.

"Guess you have a thing for Badgermoles, but not peaches." Toph smiled. And I knew I was right.

"How could you tell?"

"Your heart kind of clenched right after you lied about the peaches, and you skipped a heart beat as it clenched." Toph's smile widened.

"You are now a Grand Master of Earthbending, good job Twinkle Toes!" I quickly bowed to my master then jumped and punched the air as a victory cheer. But I hadn't forgotten about my payback. The moment my feet landed I turned back to her.

"So what is your favorite fruit?"

"Pears."

"Liar.

"Just testing you! It's apples." I nodded, she was telling the truth.

"Ok." Quick as a flash, I bent the water from the fountain so she was frozen to a wall, and couldn't move any part of her body, but I still had access to her heartbeat. "So tell me truthfully… how do you feel about Sokka?"

Her eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. "This is harsh payback!" I just grinned, I had a good idea of the answer; I just had to hear it out of the Ostrichorse's mouth to make sure.

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**Oh yeah, Aang definately got her back good! Ha ha! And Toph said he couldn't!**


	21. Of Apple Rice and Full Moons

**Disclaimer: I live in my own little world where I own Avatar. Don't worry they know me there.**

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Chapter 21: Of Apple Rice and Full Moons

**Aang's POV: **Love. That one little word has been way overused recently! Zuko, Mai, Sokka (That one had me really shocked), and now Toph. She had tried to give me little half truths in the beginning, but I think she forgot that I'd learned from the best, and the best can't be fooled by stuff like that. Then she used that word. I was slightly flustered by how she said it.

_Flashback:_

"_So tell me truthfully… how do you feel about Sokka?"_

_Her eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. "This is harsh payback!" I just grinned, I had a good idea, I just had to hear it out of the Ostrichorse's mouth to make sure._

"_I like him, he's a nice boy."_

"_Come on, I'm not an idiot! For someone to not notice, they'd have to be completely bl… never mind. Just tell me and I'll let you down."_

"_The minute I can move just half of a muscle, you are so dead!"_

"_If you keep avoiding, I doubt you'll ever get down!"_

"_Fine. Yeah, I like him. There, now can I get down."_

"_Not until I get the truth, and the whole truth, like I said, I'm not dumb."_

"_Fine. I'm in love with him. Now let me down." Shocked, I let the water unfreeze without realizing it. But I realized it when I got a rock wall in the gut. "You mention even half of a syllable about this to Sokka, then the moment Ozai is defeated you'll be dust beneath my feet! Got it?"_

_I just nodded weakly and she transported away._

_End Flashback:_

Even an hour later, my brain was still totally shut down. I hadn't thought of a sneaky way to tip off Sokka, and I wasn't sure if I should tell Katara. I wonder who else knows.

I shook my head and transported to the Fountain, where I felt Katara making dinner. She was surprised by my sudden appearance, and I saw her with her arms covered with water, ready to attack if we had been followed. She dropped it when she saw it was me; she didn't look happy.

"Toph teach you yet another way to scare the crap out of people?"

"Sorry! But guess who you're talking to?"

"The guy who just scared me to death and nearly got decapitated for it?" The sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"The Earthbending Grand Master who just scared you to death and nearly got decapitated for it!" She squealed and dropped what she was doing, and I felt her attack me into a hug, knocking me over in the process. I smiled, and kissed her before airbending myself up, then helping her up. "I'm not sure who's more excited, me or you."

Katara smirked at my joke and went back to her rice, which smelled really good. Apples and Apple Blossoms was a winner.

I walked behind her, then hugged her from behind, putting my head over to one side of her and resting it on her shoulder. She continued to stir the rice with one hand, she rubbed my sore arm with the other, heat emanating from her hand, and warming my arm. Against her shoulder, I smelled her hair, the scent was delicious. I just enjoyed being with her.

I wasn't paying attention to vibrations, so when we heard a crash, and a saw a hole in the floor, both Katara and I jumped back, surprised, and readied ourselves for a fight if necessary. Toph and Haru came up, and we lowered our hands, and glared. I turned to Katara.

"Now I get why you were angry when I did it." I said sarcastically, Toph rolled her eyes.

"I'm gonna be working with Haru on Battle Morse for a bit, then I'm gonna be working on my earthbending 'till late, we came to get our food now, we'll eat while training." I saw Katara as if she was about to protest, but then she thought the better of it and filled up two bowls of rice, adding in the apple blossom to each and then handing one to Haru and Toph. Toph tried a bite tentatively, then smiled.

"Best one yet! Good job! Much better than that bowl of flames you forced down on us before! The edible flower pushed it over the top!"

"Thanks! I didn't know you liked apples so much."

"My favorite fruit! Anyway, gotta go… congrats again Twinkle Toes, we gotta spar now that you're a Grand Master!" With that, she disappeared, before I could take her up on the challenge. Katara smiled sadly, then rung the dinner bell. She quickly mumbled something under her breath, I didn't hear all of it, but I did hear something about Sokka.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" I could tell she was lying.

"Does it have anything to do with the Toph and Sokka thing?" I felt Katara panic as I said it.

"What do you mean 'thing'? There's no 'thing', unless you are talking about them being friends… cuz they are… best friends… y'know, buds! And… Toph was sad about when he was gone because… uh… well, y'know; best buds! And… with the taking care of coma Sokka… good buds, and… what do you mean 'thing'…and…and…" I loved to hear her babble, but I had to cut her off before she hyperventilated.

"Katara, slow down! First of all, I can tell you're lying. Second of all, I knew already."

"You do?" She asked me as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yeah! I know all about Toph's feelings and…" I was cut off.

"She just told you?" She sounded skeptical.

"Uh… well… I kind of froze her to the wall and forced her to tell me… but I kinda guessed already, I just didn't know that it was love."

"So you know all about how deep she is in…" Katara began, I nodded and cut her off.

"All about that, and all about how Sokka is totally in love with her too, and…" Katara nearly choked on nothing just then, and cut me off.

"Wait, go back!" I looked at her quizzically.

"You didn't know that?" She shook her head, then grinned.

"Ok! Now that I know that, this is the part where we intervene!" I smiled as she said it. Finally!

**Sokka's POV: **I heard Katara ring the dinner bell, and started to walk down. I was hoping to see Toph there, but recently she had been working late with Aang, and taking dinner out on the go. In fact, I haven't seen her since I woke up. This is one of those times when I'm jealous of Aang, he always gets designated time to spend with one of the most powerful, incredible girls ever.

When I got to the Fountain, where we always eat, I found Aang and Katara whispering and giggling to each other.

"Hey guys! I hope I didn't miss the gossip fest! Can you fill me in?" I sarcastically broke up their conversation, and they stood up straight when they saw me. What was going on with these two?

"Hey Sokka! Um… I was just telling Katara that I loved her new rice recipe. Once every one gets here, you have to try it!" Aang seemed panicked at first, but then got excited about Katara's dinner. Hopefully it was better than the fireballs she had us choke on before.

"Also, Aang has some big news! Why don't you tell him?" Aang and I both looked at Katara curiously, then Aang perked up.

"Yeah! I just became a Grand Master of Earthbending!" I was surprised, and then smiled. Though I would've thought water would come first, it was still a second element under his belt.

"That's great!" I returned Aang's proud smile, then something else popped into my head. "If you're here, then where's your master?"

I didn't think it was possible, but Aang and Katara's smiles widened and they glanced at each other, I looked down, hoping that my uncontrollable feelings went under Katara's sharp all-knowing radar.

"She said she'd be working late on her earthbending, and she's also working with Haru on his battle Morse. She's not gonna be eating with us. But she liked my rice, so just try it!" I rolled my eyes at the last part, and sat down with my back leaning on the fountain. I saw Zuko, and Mai coming in together and sitting down, kissing all the way; I rolled my eyes and looked away, as much as I wanted to replace them with me and Toph, I decided to look for the others.. Ty Lee and Teo came in a bit later; it looked as if he was practicing airbending moves, and Ty Lee was walking on her hands, trying to show him how to do the same. Iroh came in too, the Duke followed behind him, being dragged by a thin piece of string attached to his waist.

"What…?" Aang began to ask Iroh, but the older man just shook his head, telling him that it was better we didn't know.

"So, what happened today guys?" Katara asked as she passed out wooden bowls with rice in it. I looked at mine. It had a pinkish red tint, and had an Apple Blossom on it, which is an edible flower. Still being cautious I smelled the rice in front of me. It smelled a lot like… apples and flowers!

I spazzed right there, recognizing it as similar to the scent of the most incredible person I know. "Nnnyaaaahhhh!!" I verbally expressed my surprise without thinking. Every one turned to my with s curious look.

"Nyah happened?" Katara just felt the need to tease me right there.

"No… I just… got a splinter! Yeah… I got a splinter!" I pretended to take a splinter out of my finger then turned back to the skeptical people around me. "All better!" Everyone went back to their food and I tried to focus on the conversation while eating my own bowl of rice. I found it the most delicious thing ever.

"I have decided to leave here on my Nephew's war balloon. I am going to round up other members of an organization I am part of to help with our new invasion. I will be travelling the World to ask them to join the cause." Iroh spoke up, and we all sat up curiously.

"Are you sure?" Aang finally asked.

"You didn't think you'd be able to break into the Fire Nation Capital with only the eleven people we have here, did you? We may be capable fighters, but we're not good enough for two entire armies of Dai Li and Firebenders by ourselves. We'll need at least some back up. I will be leaving tomorrow morning after breakfast." Aang nodded.

"Anything else happen today?" Katara was clearly trying to keep the conversation up.

"I'm on the intermediate level of airbending, apparently, no airbender has ever progressed so quickly, besides Aang. Having the Avatar teach me is so cool!" Aang reacted modestly to the several compliments, and was quick to compliment back.

"Well, your interest in the airbender technique had really helped. You know the concept so well, you can get a move ten times as quickly." Now it was Teo's turn to act modest, but he didn't have to worry about being too modest, Ty Lee was his ego for him.

"He has been practicing all day! As soon as he got those scrolls he asked me to help him work on it. It looked like about a month's worth of moves in one afternoon! Then he almost beat me in a test of agility, then forced me to the library to get even MORE scrolls! He's obsessed! And he's really really good!" Teo's blush deepened.

"Want a new topic?" Katara asked Teo helpfully. Teo just nodded, and Katara looked around expectantly. When no one answered, she spoke up.

"Well, the moon is full tonight, so that means that tonight, Aang can put one more mastered element on his resume." Aang looked up, surprised and happy. I was slightly confused.

"I thought that the full moon is tomorrow."

"There are three days of the full moon, which most people don't know. So there's today, tomorrow, and the day after. That way, if Aang doesn't get the technique tonight, he still has two other days. But I doubt he'll need them." I nodded and went back to my food. As much as I missed the meat and fish, this was really good. For the rest of the meal, I just ate in silence, trying to push the thoughts of Toph out of my head, and trying to hold onto the scent.

After dinner Iroh walked up to me and pulled me out of everyone else's earshot before he quietly talked to me.

"I am leaving tomorrow, so I thought I should leave you with a piece of advice. Tell her."

"Sorry?" I was positive I'd misheard him.

"You should tell her how you feel. She is an amazing girl, and I'm sure she feels the same about you." I was shocked as he just walked away calmly.

**Katara's POV: **The minute dinner was over and I had cleaned up the dishes, I dragged Aang to a large pond in another wing that Toph helped me make. She made the huge crevice, and I 

supplied the water. We were even able to plant grass and several trees, which, thanks to my healing, grew about seventy times quicker than it should have. Some month old trees were thicker than the pillars in the fountain area. We needed every tree we got.

"Okay, what's next Katara?" Aang was excited, I could tell.

"Well, you've already mastered healing, so the only thing I can think of which is higher is what I learned in the Swamp, and what I learned from Hama."

"That psycho who wanted you to attack that town? You're gonna teach me that stuff?!"

"As horrible as I think it is, you need to know it, it could save your life one day. But before I go to bloodbending, let's start with the Swamp knowledge." I plucked a blade of grass, and put it at Aang's feet. "Pick up this blade of grass without wrapping it in a water cocoon. There's water in every plant, so you shouldn't have much trouble."

He looked at it and concentrated hard. After a little bit, he slowly picked it up and started spinning it around. Then he froze the water in the tiny blade of grass and made it literally a 'blade of grass.' Satisfied, I nodded and smiled, and he dropped it.

"Now let's try something a bit heavier, because in battle, using a giant root might be better than throwing some grassy toothpicks." I pulled out a wet branch that had fallen off a tree. After a bit, he did the same thing, mastering the art of moving plants.

"Good job! I'd say we're done with that! But that means time for what Hama had to say." Aang looked slightly upset. I continued to talk. "The first thing to know is that water is almost anywhere. Even in the air there is liquid, so if you don't have a stream or a tree or anything…" I bended a large bubble of water from the air that covered my arms, "Just look for the water in the air!"

Aang smiled and tried to emulate what I did. He was slightly disappointed when he'd only gotten a handful.

"Hama was only able to get that much too. I've just been practicing a lot, so I can get more. If you keep trying you'll be able to get as much too!"

We worked for half of an hour until Aang was able to take an arms length of water out of the air. He was sweating, but proud.

"Good job! Now, the air isn't the only place with water. Like I said before, plants are loaded with it. It may kill the plant, but it'll save your life. You can also use healing later if you feel really guilty, but it's not necessary." I demonstrated with pulling the water completely out of a tree, then also showed him with a few plants. "You try!"

Aang looked a bit upset with harming the wildlife, but complied. As soon as I told him he had mastered the technique, he made quick work at healing the parched grass under us. I smiled. He was so compassionate! Once we had green grass underneath him again, he stood up.

"There anything else?"

"Two things. One I just figured out. First of all, I learned how to bend wood." I was proud as I said it. I learned a few days ago.

"WHAT!? HOW!?"

"We can both bend water from trees no problem, and wood is just a purified and neater form of a tree, just like metal is with earth. So I figured that there had to be water trapped inside, because no one can completely take all the water out from wood unless they burn it. So I tried to find the water. It took me a while, but it was there! You recently learned how to metalbend, I assume, just do the same thing, but with wood!" Then I pulled out a wooden box that I had found in a far part of the temple. It was thick and worked well. I lightly shoved Aang in and closed the door.

I heard several thudding sounds, then the wood seemed to get smaller and tighter, as if Aang was bending the water out of it, and taking the wood with him. Then there was a resound cracking of wood, and Aang came out with a bit of water in his hand, there were splinters floating in it. Aang came over and kissed me, letting the water fall to the ground.

"You're amazing! Did you know that?" I smiled and kissed him back before I had to eventually pull away. He still had one more thing to learn.

"Sorry, but you're not done yet. Here comes the trick you can only do in light of a full moon. Yup, it's bloodbending. I wish you didn't need to know it, but you do. If you are in a really horrible position, where a you or a friend is about to die, you can also freeze, boil, or even stop blood, although I hope you never need to do it, you should know it." Aang looked more upset now, but he knew what could be at stake.

"What do I have to do?" He asked gloomily.

"First, you need to know that wherever there is life, there is water. That's how you could bend the water in the air, and in the plants. Now, you're gonna do the same thing… only to me." He looked as if he was about to protest, but just looked down for a second, then concentrated.

After awhile he opened his eyes and twist his hands around, and I felt my arm moving simultaneously. He was being very benign, merely having me slowly move different parts of my body.

Once he was convinced he had gotten it, he let go and glanced at his hands as if they were cursed. He shakily walked to the pond and started washing his hands and arms, furiously rubbing to get rid of the disease of burden, when he saw it wasn't working he started scratching and clawing at his skin. I was afraid he was going to make himself bleed, so I ran to him and pulled his arms away from each other, hugging him furiously to try and take away some of the burden. We just sat there for a few minutes, rocking slowly.

"Hey, don't worry. I never said you needed to ever use it. Only in life or death matters. It's okay. Can you handle one more move, or should we call it quits? It's the last one before you are a Grand Master of Waterbending." He calmed down considerably and looked back up at me.

"One more shouldn't be that hard." He put on a brave face, but I could see he was nervous.

"When I first found out about Hama, she used bloodbending on me, but I was able to use the energy of the full moon so I was impervious to the technique. So I'm going to use bloodbending on you and you have to resist." Aang just breathed in, looked up at the moon, and nodded.

I pushed back tears, then started to make his arms and legs move and twist gently. I watched Aang's face scrunch up, and forced concentration. He was clearly weakened from his break down a bit ago and had trouble with drawing out spiritual power. But after several minutes, he stopped moving and smiled wearily, then he bowed deeply in respect. I followed suit before enveloping him into a warm kiss.

"Wow, a Grand Master of water and earth, all in one day! We need to celebrate!" I said in between kisses.

"What did you have in mind?" He was breathing heavily now. Spirits, he was so hot.

The kisses became more frantic and more passionate. Aang broke away and started kissing me on each of my cheeks, the tip of my nose, my forehead, by my jaws, and trailing around the bottom of my face, until I brought him back up to my lips.

"Congratulations!" I said in between kisses, my voice airy from lack of breath.

**Aang's POV: **Everything that had happened today just melted away in Katara's arms, and her lips. Spirits, her lips! I could go on forever about her luscious lips.

I gently rubbed my tongue against her bottom lip, pleading for entrance, which she graciously permitted. I felt around every part of her mouth, taking in her taste, before I met her tongue with mine. Our tongues danced together, much like in the cave at my dance party, and they battled playfully. I couldn't get enough.

I explored every part of her mouth, carefully tickling and prodding every nook, rubbing against her teeth, and feeling her taste on the underside of her lips. She was amazing.

"Oh Aang! I love you, so much." My breath caught as she said it. I never thought I'd hear her say it.

"Katara, I love you too! So much! I could shout it to the heavens and the Spirits on the other side of the cosmic plane would hear me shouting my love, and it still wouldn't be enough to describe it. I love you so much! You are my world!"

Love. That one little word has been used so much recently. Zuko, Mai, Sokka, Toph, me, and now Katara. The air in the Temple was dripping with the feeling. It was always surrounding me. Love. After Katara and I eventually broke apart from each other's grasps, we just lied in the grass and looked up at the stars, her head resting in my shoulder, and me running my fingers through her hair. We fell asleep like that, in our lover's embrace.

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**Sigh! We haven't had any good Kataang in a while! I always love writing it!**

**I'm gonna say what everyone always hates to read; please review!**

**Toldja you'd hate to hear it!**


	22. The Giver and the Avatar

**Disclaimer: Don't sue.**

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Chapter 22: The Giver and the Avatar

**Roku's POV: **I waited until I felt Aang fall into REM sleep before I called him to the Spirit World. I have been watching recent events play out before me. I am surprised that the Spirits were taking action in the war. That was good though, we've stayed dormant for too long. It was cowardly to assign people to do things such as 'break into this prison' or 'run into this person and agree to help him' and 'go interrogate this dangerous spirit.'

I saw Aang come before me suddenly, and then looked around before he understood that I had pulled him here.

"Uh, hiya Roku. Is there a reason you brought me here."

"Yes Aang, it is time for me to explain."

**Aang's POV: **I opened my eyes to find myself on a grassy plain. I was sitting in a meditating position, and Avatar Roku was looking down at me. I was so confused; why was I here. Well… this time I wasn't going to waste time with pleasantries. When it comes to the Spirit World, things always have a time limit.

"Uh, hiya Roku. Is there a reason you brought me here."

"Yes Aang, it is time for me to explain." That could not have gotten vaguer if he had tried.

"Recently, you must have known someone who is not a bender, but who is able to see and understand things more clearly. They should be able to see through most lies and deceptions, and they strengthens everyone they meets. This person should also have a special connection to another person, who is a bender." I was so confused.

"Huh." Why is it that I suddenly forget words when people confuse me?

"The most easily recognizable trait is that this person has is that during battle they tend to glow and strengthen everyone's bending about fifty fold. And they might have been overtaken by a spirit once or twice."

"Hey you made a joke! I've never heard you joke before!" I smiled, then what he said sank in. "Whoa! You just described Sokka! What's happening to him?"

"Ever since there has been the Avatar, there has also been the Giver. The Giver has never been a bender, but has always been a constant, or a protective shield. He is the descendent of a spirit who decided he wanted to become mortal. When that spirit died, he was born again in a new body. It was the Spirit of Connection, and its name was Daivat. It was one of the Few Spirits who really connected to humans instead of looked down on them. The Giver has been born over and over, and has always made contact with the Avatar at some point in each of its lives. You are lucky because you have been traveling with its newest life right now." I took this all in.

"But why now? Why not in Ba Sing Se, or any other battle for that matter? Why did it come up now?"

"Before your friend Sokka was able to unlock his Spiritual ability, he first had to make a strong bond with a bender of the opposite gender. That bender is called 'The Key'. In this life, it is your teacher, Toph. Their bond of friendship and love is stronger than any other in any past life. He unlocked his ability when he gave her the piece of the meteor. But he only first accesses it when he truly fears for her safety." I was trying to take this all in. And I had to smirk when I heard about the love.

"Sounds like the Avatar State."

"The Spirits were in the process of making the Avatar before he became mortal. The Avatar State was donated by Daivat. The same way an inexperienced Avatar calls on the Avatar State, is how he is able to call on his power. And like the Avatar State, he can control it."

"Does that mean he'd have to…" I started to ask about the last, and most annoying chakra, but Roku read my thoughts.

"No, the power source behind this ability is based off of earthly attachments. If he lets go of that, no more ability." Sokka is one lucky guy. I was a little annoyed of how he didn't have to worry about that. Roku must've read my thoughts. Because he spoke up again. "By the way, that is the other thing I must talk to you about. Aang, because of your love for your friends, and your family, it became physically impossible for you to give them up as an earthly attachment. If it becomes physically impossible, that chakra shuts down in your body, kind of like it was never there. Therefore, you have mastered the Avatar State."

I straightened my shoulders at the incredible news. Did that mean…? Could it be that…? I smiled. I had just mastered three things in one day!

"Aang, you are waking up, so we must part. When you wake up, I suggest you surprise every one with a little glow fest. I commend you on your progress, as an almost fully realized Avatar. Today, you must look at the airbending scroll, and master the three techniques that are there. Once you have mastered these three, please visit me, and I'll have a surprise." I cocked my head at his surprise, then bowed deeply, and he did the same.

"Thank you Roku!" Then I felt another slipping sensation, and I woke up by the pond, with Katara leaning gently on my shoulder.


	23. The Airbending Scroll

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If you want a confirmation of this fact, see the previous 22 chapters.**

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Chapter 23: The Airbending Scroll

**Aang's POV: **I had to wait till Katara woke up before I could move, because it would be cruel to do anything that could disturb her in any way. But once she woke up, I had to come out of my little bliss bubble, and come back down to earth. But I was definitely elated by the fact that I didn't need to give up anything just to gain control of this power.

I smiled, maybe it was time to give Katara a little wake up call, how about a shower! Just by thought I saw my tattoos start to glow, yet when I looked in the water, my eyes remained light gray, and sleepy.

Getting past my tattoos, I bended the entire pond out of the water, and silently lifted it over Katara. I hesitated for a second, knowing that if she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I would be deader than Zhao after he pissed off the Spirits. But then I'd probably shock her with the glowing more than anger her, so I let the water I was bending fall.

Katara felt the pond fall on her and but her hands up to block it, and stopped most of it, but she was already soaked. She threw the water back into the pool and picked up some of the water which had already fallen on the ground, drying herself off to add to the large bubble she was gathering.

"Aang, you are dead meat when I find y…" She turned to see me with my tattoos neon white. "Y… you're glowing! But not your eyes… does that mean?"

"Yup I mastered the Avatar State, kind of in my sleep… I think!"

I felt a huge block of ice swing towards me and hit me in the gut, in the same place where Toph had crushed me earlier. I rubbed the sore spot and looked up at her.

"That was for scaring me, soaking me, and rudely water-logging me before I've fully woken up…!" Then she bent down and cupped my face in her hands gently, and kissed me lightly, but with a strange fire behind it. I was really upset when she broke it, and whimpered a little, she just smirked at my reaction. "And that was for everything you've done to get ready for the Final Battle, this mastery being the latest."

"Do I get congratulations like I did last night?" I tried to make it sound sexy and playful, hopeful, with a bit of nonchalance on top. I think I just succeeded in making myself look desperate. Way to go! Katara leaned in to me, and I thought it was for a kiss, but at the last possible second, she turned and leaned into my ear. I felt her breath on my cheek and shuddered.

"Maybe tonight… if you're good!" Spirits! She wasn't playing fair! I felt my entire body heat up and my heart sped up. I felt blood rush to a certain part of my body, and could only stay there on the ground, my hands desperately trying to grab something to support myself. She teasingly poked me in the sore spot by my gut, making me wince, before walking off, leaving me dumbstruck.

Eventually though, I had to get up. I had to master that scroll, I was probably late for firebending training, and I still had to teach Teo more airbending. Ty Lee was helping him with the agility part of airbending, and the scrolls he goes through daily helps him too, but he still needs a physical teacher. Still my firebending had to take priority. I thought about transporting, but I decided to use the old fashioned way, and used airbending to help me run there quickly. By the time I got there, I was out of breath, and Zuko was impatiently glaring at me with a condescending frown. I checked the sun; oh yeah! Very late!

After about three hours of firebending training, and Zuko working me harder than ever for being late, I was sweating and tired. I was getting more and more advanced. Learning how to keep in control, while still holding onto power.

Still, firebending is so different from airbending, which I guess I'll always be best at. It is completely offensive, I barely know any defensive tricks. I keep asking Zuko about it, then he just looks at me funny and says I won't need a strong defense if they're already down. Airbending is mainly defensive, and rarely has any harmful offenses. Once I asked Gyatso about offensive attacks. But he mainly gave me the same wierd look and talked about stuff I knew.

Airbending. That reminded me about the scroll. I ran to my room to get it. Seeing as I wanted to be as airbender-y as possible, I used wind-running instead of popping out of the floor. I missed wind running, I hadn't done it in forever.

By the time I got to my room, I was out of breath and needed to pause. Once I could breathe again, I went to my drawer and pulled out the aged scroll, rereading Gyatso's note before. There was one I wouldn't like, but Gyatso wanted me to learn it, so I wasn't about to say no.

I opened it up and looked down to the first airbending technique, called the Impairer. There was a little note by each one so I looked at that first. The first was about taking away an opponent's senses without hurting them. Like, creating a wind that only affects who you wanted it to affect. It's invisible, and stops them from seeing, hearing, or smelling anything. Pretty much impair them in a battle.

It said that I had to be looking at the person, or people I'm gonna use this on, and imagine a type of smog around them while doing a spin-y circle-y thing with my arms. I had to jump in the air if I was going to be impairing a huge crowd.

I tried both gestures, then decided to try it out at lunch without telling anyone. I wouldn't be able to blind Toph, but I could stop her from hearing or smelling anything. Then again, no one would know they couldn't hear if they were also blinded. They'd just think that no one was saying anything. I'll just deafen and de-smellify them.

I looked at the sun. Around this time, almost everyone was at the fountain, except for Toph and Sokka. They were both off, separately practicing their fighting. I told him what I knew about him being the Giver, but he said that he still wanted to be able to fight with a sword. He was off practicing that.

I peeked around the corner at every one hanging out. Ty Lee was instructing Teo how to contort into some weird pose on his head, Mai and Zuko were talking, and Katara was practicing waterbending, while asking the others for rice suggestions.

I looked at them and concentrated. It was a small enough group so I didn't have to jump up. I quickly took away their hearing and smell, leaving their sight be. Ty Lee kept instructing Teo on what to do, but looked shocked at having no voice. Without instruction on how to keep balanced, Teo fell. Mai and Zuko also looked surprised. Katara dropped the water she was bending.

Ty Lee ran over to Mai and I heard her ask Mai to say something. Mai spoke a bit, and Ty Lee's eyes widened. She clamped her hands over her ears and started freaking out, mouthing "Deaf! I'm deaf! Oh Spirits! I'm deaf!" Teo ran over using some weak wind running and grabbed Ty Lee's wrists and patted her shoulder saying "I can't hear either! It's not just you!" Ty Lee gave a little half smile and hugged Teo.

Zuko mouthed a "What?" before touching his lips lightly. Katara tried healing over her throat and ears, but when she still couldn't speak she started to worry too.

When I saw her freaked out expression, I knew it was time to stop blocking sound waves and smells from the air. Before they could find me, I decided to leave.

Once I was safely in the open flat that didn't have a ceiling, which is where I train Teo, I opened the scroll and looked at the next one, positive that I had mastered the first. I read the blurb.

The Cosmic Switch. It was used by bending the air in space to… holy crap! I nearly choked on nothing when I read what was on the scroll. Used to bend the air in space to move the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets! I just gaped at the words beneath me. I didn't notice someone coming towards me.

"Hey I know that paper is a new revelation for you, but you don't need to lose your jaw!" I recognized Sokka's voice.

"I think I just figured out how we can defeat the Fire Lord!" I barely stuttered through the shock that still lingered, though I pulled my head away from the page. If I mastered this, I bet I could slow down the comet coming… or I could create a second eclipse!

"I will seriously knock you one if you say 'master all four elements'!" The shock had worn off, and I composed myself enough to roll my eyes at Sokka's sarcasm. I just shoved the scroll at him.

"Read the second blurb." I waited for him to spazz.

3… 2… 1…

"GAH! What… how… can you…? This is… why didn't you tell us before, and…?"

"Word mush! Now that's interesting, maybe I'll suggest that Katara use that in her next rice recipe. You guys really should've cut down on the rice while we were in that town. No one needs, or wants fifty sacs of it!"

"This is incredible! We have to tell everyone that you can make a second eclipse… or change the direction of Sozin's Comet… or…"

"Sokka, I haven't mastered it yet. Give me ten minutes before you go telling everyone I can do something I can't. Besides, Me just reversing Sozin's Comet is as probable as the prospect of Toph have been able to stop that drill by herself without us damaging the structure. I could maybe slow it down, but not stop it, or turn it around. I have to fight the Fire Lord too ya know! But I was thinking along the same lines as you with the second eclipse. Just let me get the technique!"

"Go right ahead. I'd love to see you move the sun backwards!"

I nodded, then looked at the gestures I needed to do, and practiced it a few times. I had to create a funnel with my hands, then cross them quickly across my body, then create a leash of air around the cosmic thing of my choice. I decided to move the sun backwards. I redid the motion, then started to pull. It wasn't easy, the sun was heavy, but after a few minutes, I had managed to move it back considerably, about thirty minutes worth. I broke my air leash and bent down, sweating but proud. I peered behind me to see Sokka gaping at me.

"Now who lost his jaw?"

"Y-you moved the sun! With air!"

"I think we already covered that!" Sokka just kind of stared for a moment, then composed himself.

"I'm gonna tell the others!" With that, he ran off, and I was alone again to master the last airbending move before I became a Grand Master, and not just a Master. I peered at the blurb and skimmed through it. My eyes widened and I was sure I had read that wrong. I looked over it again more carefully, hoping I'd made a mistake. I hadn't. This was the move I was going to object to.

_This final move is unique, because it goes against our mostly benevolent nature. But in the midst of a dire situation, it could be necessary. People can live without food for many months, and can live without water for some days, but they can only live without air for a few minutes. In this technique, you will learn to bend the air away from a person's body, taking away their ability to breathe. With this technique, depending on how long you hold it, it can either have a person gasping for breath, unconscious, or in the most dire circumstances, dead. _

I sat down. I just learned how to bend, freeze, boil, and stop blood, and that was bad enough. I didn't want to be able to take someone's air away from them. I'm just turning thirteen, I don't want to be a killer. I don't want to have to fight, and lead this war. I wanna be a kid. Instead I 

have to be the Avatar. The one person in all the world who can defeat the Fire Lord and bring balance to the world. In the end, I guess it'll always be just me, until I die. The scary thing is; that might be soon.

Slowly I got up and looked for the gestures it was supposed to draw out for me, but I found none, only a little blurb saying any gesture is fine, but I have to try and create a bubble-like thing, only it keeps air out instead of trapping it in.

I unenthusiastically came up with a gesture that I felt would work for me if I ever needed to use the technique. I spread my arms apart, then spun them 'till they were in front of me, then I pulled my arms into my chest, sucking in a breath of air.

I tried it out a couple of times, then wondered if I should try it out on a person so I'll know I've got it. But I still couldn't imagine doing that to any of my friends. Zuko said he only learned how to redirect lightning in theory, and only got real practice when his father tried to kill him. I figured theoretical knowledge should be sufficient.

Which meant that I was a Grand Master of Airbending. Only the five chief Monks were Grand Masters. I shuddered knowing that my father-like- person knew how to kill a person. Gyatso never seemed like that type.

I walked back towards the Fountain to apologize for deafening every one, and I roughly knocked the scroll against the wall to show that I was angry at it for making me a potential killer. Then I heard a clack, and saw that the thick wooden handle of the scroll opened up, on a hinge. I peered inside, and recognized a thick necklace with wooden beads painted yellow and orange. The pendant at the bottom was a small, circular, wooden disk with the Air Nomads symbol on it; three swirls one on top of the other two. There was a tsle coming down from it made out of bison fur. Then around the edges, there was a small pattern showing the other three Nations. There was a folded note in the compartment hidden under the exquisite Air Nomad symbol of Grand Mastery.

_Aang, _

_By the time you have found this pendent, I assume you'll have completed all the techniques on that scroll. I am proud to say (or write) that you are now a Grand Master of airbending. When you became a Master you got your tattoos, now that you have furthered your mastery, I am giving you the traditional Air Monk necklace, carved by your Master. Since you are the Avatar, I added a unique touch, see the edges of the pendent. Congratulations, I hope we meet again, but I fear we will not. War is coming, and you will be forced to play a large role in what is to come. I know you will follow your heart, and that will get you far. Until the next life, in which I do hope we meet again, I say goodbye._

_--Gyatso_

I smiled sadly as I put the necklace over my neck, feeling proud to wear it. I had thought as if I'd lost all connection to Gyatso when the staff he made me was damaged beyond repair. When a young airbender starts to first train with his or her master, the teacher makes them a staff; when he reaches mastery his Master gives him his tattoos; and if he ever becomes a Grand Master, his Master carves him a traditional necklace of the Air Nomads. I smiled, I had an almost finished staff in my room for Teo, and I had found the tools the Monks used to give us our tattoos. Something told me I'd need it soon.

Before I got to the Fountain, Teo and Ty Lee stopped me, each had about five scrolls in their hands. I looked at them wide eyed. I looked at one and saw some pretty advanced techniques. I would need the glider and tattoo-er sooner than I thought. Teo couldn't keep using mine, and his old glider chair couldn't be changed into a glider, we almost had a bad accident then.

"When did you get this high up? At this rate you'll be a master by the end of next week!"

"I want to be a master before the Final Battle, I want to be significant in it." I smiled at his ambition. I didn't doubt that he could, and would. I was so proud of him, I had never seen anyone fly through learning airbending so fast. Learning all of airbending in a month and a half has never been done, but that's what he's planning on doing.

"He will too! I've been showing him some of the flexibility and stuff, and you've been his real master and all, but he is doing better than anyone I know. He's a prodigy! And I've never seen any one's aura more determined than his is. Hehe, his is…" I nicely rolled my eyes at her little rhyme joke, but I couldn't get over the sweetness about how she gushes over her friend's achievements. Teo blushed at the compliments and looked down humbly. I remember how much gushing I did at the North Pole when I went around telling everyone I met how Katara mastered waterbending in only three weeks.

I sighed, tired, but knowing there was no way I was getting out of teaching Teo. He wanted me to push him to the limit. And mastering about ten scrolls in one day would really be the limit! I gave a small half smile. He wanted to be pushed to the limit, than what kind of teacher would I be if I was to refuse. I challenged him to a wind running race back to the patio before taking off at full speed. Teo followed close behind, with Ty Lee cartwheeling as quick as she could to keep up.

If I was going to make Teo a Master before the Final Battle, then I would really have to push him, but he was ready for it, and I knew he would have no problems, and Ty Lee was ready to help him on a whim, probably even before the whims start coming. Yup, he's gonna have no problems at all.


	24. Could Never Be Me

**Disclaimer: If I need to repeat myself one more time I swear...**

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Chapter 24: Could Never Be Me

**Ty Lee's POV: **I had gotten over Sokka, I no longer had that silly little crush on him, like I used to; that went away after I decided to put my fear of Azula aside and make my own decision to join Aang. But I saw that he loves someone, and she likes him at least. My guess was that it was slightly more than just like.

I don't get annoyed often, but I felt as if I was repeating the Zuko/Mai thing when I was eleven years old. Just before Zuko's banishment; they both were crushing so hard. I was so frustrated that they didn't just kiss already!

But I didn't have the sneaky and smart mind Azula had, and even little me knew better than to involve Azula in this. But Azula somehow knew everything, like she had a secret army of informants.

She made us play a mud game fight; her and Mai versus me and Zuko. Obviously Mai was the best shot, so we knew we were sorta doomed, then Azula started superheating the mud into hard clay balls and made Mai throw them at us. I wasn't good with water, or water like substances. Never was, never will be. I was half submerged in mud and couldn't dodge as well as Zuko, so I tried to bolt. Azula was angry at me for trying to sabotage her little matchmaker thing, so she threw an even hotter mud/clay ball at me.

I still remember the porcelain-like ball that hit me in the back of the head, breaking on impact and forever leaving a small scar of a cut on the back of my head. I remember telling the Royal Doctors that I fell and hit my head on the gazebo's metal gate. Azula ordered the gate be removed from the gazebo, then automatically blamed Zuko, saying that he should've protected his partner, then told him that he was selfish, so I got hurt, and that his selfishness forced their mom away.

Zuko bit into her story completely and locked himself into his room. The one thing I couldn't believe is that Azula's plan actually worked in a twisted, overdone, sneaky way. That afternoon, Mai went in and comforted him, saying it wasn't his fault, and that he wasn't to blame, and that he was the least selfish person she knew.

I rubbed the back of my head, feeling the scar that was still there; long and thin. I was suddenly determined to make sure they got together.

I spent thirty minutes just looking for her, like I guessed, she was by the pond, practicing waterbending.

"Hey Katara! Can I talk to you?" Katara looked up and dropped the water near her hands.

"Did we plan a healing tips exchange that I completely forgot about? If so I am so sorry! Just been kinda spacey today."

Her voice gave away that she was thinking about her certain someone, I shook my head before speaking up.

"No, you already know everything that I know! I wanted some help with doing a little interfering!"

"Huh?" Katara looked confused. I just rolled my eyes in exasperation, but then got very giggly in a sneaky manner.

"You have to have noticed about the Sokka Toph thing, but if you haven't noticed, they won't be going anywhere unless someone shoves them together. I, personally, think that someone should just interfere before we all die of old age waiting for it to happen! And come on! Like you've never wanted to shove them in a closet and yell at them to just make out already!"

"Well, when you put it that way… yeah, I really do! But I didn't know you did." I looked away when she mentioned my former crush. It was all based on his looks, the kid inside was a little goofy for me, but too serious at the same time. And too much of a scientist, not at all loose, or spirited.

"Meh, they love each other, he needs her to use his power, and I'm totally over that silly little crush."

"And onto a new one?" I was confused. What did she mean by that?

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Let me just get Aang who really wanted to interfere, then we can meddle away."

I waited for a few minutes for Katara to get her boyfriend. I wasn't really that close with Katara, we talked about healing together, but once my fount of information on the subject had run dry, then we didn't really talk. I was pretty sure she would hate me when I first joined up because of all the times we've fought in the past. Well, she kinda did hate me the first day, then she saw my own makeshift healing kit, and she asked me what I knew on the topic.

Since then we've been civil, never friends. I was fine with it though, we just weren't compatible. Her aura is very varied from mine. Besides, I had my new best friend, and my oldest friend here.

I was surprised when Teo and I became friends, but he's become my best friend. We are always laughing together, and showing off, and teasing each other, and competing with each other in sparring matches; my pressure points against his airbending. I'm always so proud of his progress too. I keep telling everyone around the temple that Teo is the fastest learning airbender in the history of the world. I asked Mai if she knew that, she just rolled her eyes and told me that I told her at least five times. After that I knew I had to stop. But that didn't keep me from bragging to Aang about his progress each time he can't make a training session due to firebending. It was all he had left, so he is being worked to the bone for triple the time, and double how hard Zuko is pushing him.

I don't blame Zuko. The comet is coming in three weeks. That is scary, because I knew that not everyone survives war. I wanted to be super ready, and I wanted Teo to be super ready too. I couldn't lose my best friend, I cared about him too much.

Then Katara noisily walked in with Aang. Their lips were slightly thicker than I thought, and were a bright red. I smirked knowingly, but decided to play dumb.

"Wow Katara! Did you drag him by his lips? They're bright red!"

They both blushed and looked down. After a moment, Aang recovered and turned to me with a devious grin on, and spoke up.

"I have a plan."

**Aang's POV: **My plan was simple, but had to be done to perfection. First we had to set up two trap doors, surrounded in wood to come through the floor to a wooden room with no door.

Then Ty Lee hints something to Toph while Katara does some hinting to Sokka, then I'm gonna impair both of their 'sight'. I just figured out how to mess up Toph's 'sight' and it was gonna be real helpful.

They'll both simultaneously fall through the trap door, where they get their sight back, but because it's lined in wood, Toph can't stop herself.

Then they land in the room which is completely covered in wood, without a door, and they're stuck together.

My figuring is that they haven't talked, or gone anywhere because they haven't seen each other since Sokka woke up. If they're forced together, they'd be forced to talk, then one of them would slip up when they're talking, then the other would ask the first to explain, then there would be confessions and the rest of us could get on with our lives. After about an hour we'd plan on finding them.

I had already created a hidden room that can only be escaped through the trap doors. Katara is lining them right now with wood, and Ty Lee is trying to come up with what to say to Toph, but Katara already know what she want to say to Sokka.

Katara ran back to us, slightly out of breath.

"All boarded up, all we need now are the hints, then Aang can blind them both.""Great! 'Operation throw Sokka and Toph into a wooden room together so they can get together' is under way!" Both girls looked at me.

"Wow! And I thought Sokka sucked at names." I frowned at Katara, then giggled along with her before we all split up to do what we had to do.

Katara walking towards the Flat where I practice airbending, and Sokka practices sword fighting. He was going to be done with his practice soon. Ty Lee walked the opposite direction to the large empty room where Toph taught me earthbending. She was going to be done practicing her bending soon too. I touched the ground, and felt our plan working. Katara walked past Sokka, and her breathing sounded like she was subtly hinting something. Ty Lee on the other hand bumped into Toph, then bluntly started telling her to talk to him. She sounded perky. Both of them shrugged it off and begun walking towards the trap doors. Once they were about a yard away from the trap, I knew it was time for my part. So I simultaneously 'blinded' them, then just waited. They both fell, and I let go of my grip on Toph, knowing that the wood would cover it. But I kept my hold on Sokka until he acknowledged Toph's presence on his own.

**Toph's POV: **Nowadays, I only ever really see Katara and sometimes Aang if he decides to refresh his earthbending. I never see Mai anymore. She's too busy with her boyfriend. I don't really notice Ty Lee or Teo, they're just kinda blend in. Sure they're always talking and giggling, and on their heads, but they blend in on their heads. And Sokka… I haven't seen him since he woke up. I think I may be avoiding him, that's what Katara thinks, she always brings it up whenever she's in a girl talky mood. But I wouldn't know what to say to him.

I slammed another rocky wave into the wall at the thought. After I put down the earth I was bending, I stood up and mimicked what the conversation would go like.

"Hey Sokka! How've you been! How's your glowyness doing?" I said in a high voice. It came out sounding more like Ty Lee's voice than a joke of mine. Then I lowered my voice considerably. "Hi, I've been fine, and now I can make any one glow! It's fun! Yay meat!" I rolled my eyes of the silliness of how I sounded, shook my head to clear the thought away, then created a sand snake, and started to attack some rock dummies similar to how I had seen Katara do before in her bending. When I created a sand octopus, I smiled, remembering seeing her practice that, before dropping it, wiping the sweat off my face, then starting to leave the room.

I felt Ty Lee walking past me, but didn't think much of it. We didn't get along that well, probably because of a certain interest we used to share. So I ignored her and walked by the giggly girl.

"You need to tell him!"

"What?"

"I know you like him, you need to tell him, cuz he does too."

"Who asked you, Pretty Pretty Princess?" She just laughed her deathly high and perky laugh, I flinched.

"No need to get defensive, and no use trying to deny. For we all know if you refuse your love, it would be a lie." She more sang it than spoke it, making up rhymes like a child.

"Wow! You made a rhyme! Now do you want an award?" Once again, that laugh, I groaned inwardly.

"Just think about it!"

I pushed past her, not even listening to what she had to say, seems everyone's been saying the exact same thing, like it was rehearsed. I don't think they got it. It would never be me. For the brief five seconds when I had looked at my body while I was in the Spirit World, I had immediately known that I wasn't something special to see. I didn't know what beautiful was, but I knew enough to say that I didn't fit standards. And I could see that Sokka did. Even though I only saw him through his cuts, and burns, and multicolored bruises covering his body, I still knew he was a beautiful person, inside and out. No, it could never be me.

I wanted to go to my room, I was hoping to catch some people in the act of kissing, especially Aang and Katara so I could have some awesome blackmail stuff. I still wanted to get Aang back for his evil trick.

Then nothing, and I panicked. I felt nothing, like my feet were blind. I stamped the ground in apprehension. The nothingness was just endlessness of what I'd been told is black. I was afraid of only one thing, and that was the black, I was scared of the nothingness. Especially now, knowing I was on solid earth. I needed to tell everyone about what was happening.

I started to run, but after maybe a yard, I felt myself falling, and for a split second, there wasn't even the silent earth. Then I was violently thrust into the inside of a wooden tunnel; a very steep tunnel.

After what was only a few seconds, the tunnel leveled out, then dumped me in a wooden room; almost silently rolling across the floor. I already guessed that climbing back out of the tunnel was impossible, so my guess was that I was trapped here unless I could find some earth.

**Sokka's POV: **I had finished sword practice and was sweating buckets. Long ago I had learned that this summer was going to be a heat wave, and I started practicing with my sword shirtless. It made things easier.

But right now, Katara was attacking me subtly. I don't know if she was aware that she was making me uncomfortable when she talked about the old legend of two loves, and how she missed Gran Gran telling us the story.

It was about two couples. One was extremely passionate, and more all consuming, and powerful. Whenever they were together, they glowed with the glory of the Spirit of Love. The other was more gentle, and tender. They were very romantic, and went very slow, truly showing their love, but not trying to label it. One day, the Great Spirit called the All asked both lovers which of the forms of love was better, so it could distribute it to the entire world. Both couples said their love was better, so he decided to put both forms of love into the world, and allowed it to spread, and combine to create thousands of different kinds of love.

She asked which love I'd prefer. I just brushed by my little sister, and decided to ignore her, and went to my room to get out of the rest of the sweaty clothes I had on and take a nice ice bath to sooth my tightened muscles. Right now, that sounded like heaven. Not only did cold baths help calm me down after an intense workout, they also helped me clear my head of annoying teen problems I shouldn't be dwelling on.

I looked up at the sun to see how late it was, and when dinner was, because I am starving, plus I hear Katara at least added some meat to the rice recipe this time. According to Aang's annoyed expression when he said it, there would be a lot of meat in it.

I snapped back to reality when I noticed I was still looking at the sun. If I looked at it too long, rumor was that it was bad for your eyes. I looked down to the floor, and immediately felt dizzy about the sudden color change, kind of like when I stand up too fast. My eyes blurred around the edges, and I waited for my eyes to go back to normal, completely unfazed.

I started to panic when the blurriness disappeared… and was replaced by just black. Oh crap! I'm blind! Crap! Crap! Crap! I started to run to where I think might be the fountain. If I can find Katara, she might be able to heal me. I hadn't run for more than a yard or so before a mysterious wooden panel on the otherwise rock floor fell in under me, revealing itself to be a trap door! I couldn't see, all I could do is shout as I fell through the wooden tunnel.

Suddenly the tunnel abruptly ended on what I guessed was the ceiling of a wooden room. After I recovered from my fall, I stood up and started to think of how to get out of here. I couldn't go back the way I came, but maybe there's a door.

I found a wall, once again covered in wood, and started to walk around with a hand on the wall. If there was a door, I'd feel it. With my other hand, I touched where my eyelids lightly. Why couldn't I see a thing?

I thought I heard a thump, and spun around to greet, or prepare to fight whoever, or whatever made the thump. But no sound followed, and I guessed I'd imagined it, so I continued to feel my way around the room, quieter now, so I would here if anyone was in the room with me.

But I know that this wasn't here before, so who made it then? My first guess was Combustion Man, but he went under about two months ago. At least, that's what we assumed when he fell off the temple. Maybe he survived. Maybe he blew up this little pocket in the temple, and he used his weird blow-up-y powers to make a trap door, hoping Aang would fall in.

But, if it was him, why would he make it wood? Why not just cap it in metal? Combustion Man doesn't know Aang can metalbend, so why the wood, unless it wasn't Combustion Man who built it, and it wasn't meant to hold Aang. From the wood, it would be perfect to hold… maybe I did hear a thump.

"Is anyone here? If you are, you'd better speak up now!" Wow! My voice sounded really weak and shaky. I'm pretty sure I heard it crack.

"SOKKA!?" That sounded like the surprised voice of Toph. It also sounded upset for some reason, then again, if she was completely blind in a wooden cage, she would probably be upset.

"Toph! Are you okay? You sound upset!" As soon as I said her name, my vision came back, and I had to squint for the sudden color.

"What do you think!? Wait till you get trapped in a wooden room completely blind with no way back and see how you react!" she paused for a minute, and blinked wide-eyed. "Oh I could kill Ty Lee! She's infected me! ... Gah!" I didn't get it, so I decided not to try. I paused though, a little offended. I thought I handled it pretty well!

"Hey! I'll try to pull up some of the boards so you can get a look around." And I set to work, unsheathing my sword and pulling up some of the wooden boards. They were stuck in tight, but not by nails. I ignored it, and tried to focus on my work instead of the beautiful girl curled up in a ball near the corner behind me. I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around her and comfort her, but I knew that helping her see would probably be the best thing I could do.

After I peeled up several of the boards, I ushered her over so she could feel where we were.

"Thank the Spirits!"

"You're welcome!" I couldn't help but crack a joke. She smirked at me.

"You're hilarious, but seriously, thanks. Anyway, we're in some kind of underground pocket. The only natural way back is through the tunnel you fell through on the ceiling, and the one I fell through by that wall. Both are too steep for me to climb. You might be able to, it's a bit steeper than that cliff Aang once forced you to climb, but I bet you could. I wouldn't be able to see up there though."

"Can't you just bend a pillar from the rock you have there?"

"Nope, we're at the bottom of the temple. If I bend any of it, we'll lose our support, and the Temple will literally lose its top! Besides, I think Zuko likes his room!"

I frowned. I had hoped that once Toph got her bearings we could just get out of here by her slamming a pillar of rock into the wall. Whoever had put this here really knew what they were doing. I frowned again and plopped onto my butt on the floor. Toph sat next to me, and I gulped a little.

"So… I haven't seen you in a while, what you been doing?"

"Earthbending… you?"

"Sword fighting." And there ends that conversation. I didn't have a new topic, so either Toph becomes a genius with a genius conversation topic, or two idiots are gonna take a trip to awkward town.

"So... what's going on with the glowy, Giver thing? Shouldn't you also be practicing that for the final battle?" I gulped. How was I supposed to tell her that I needed her to access it, and once I'm in it, I still need to work on controlling it, for which I need her too.

"Well, there's a certain aspect I need before I can use it, sort of like how Aang had to do all that stuff to master the Avatar State, and there's no way I can get it."

"Why not?" I glanced at her, she looked dead serious. I didn't like where this was going.

"There is some type of bond that I have to share with something… or someone. But I don't know if the bond is there. Other people say it is, but I don't know."

"Well, if it's your boomerang or your sword, you're more emotionally attached to them than anyone I have ever met with stuff…" I sighed, typical Toph, always joking around. That's one of the things I love about her. She continued. "But yeah, I know what you mean. Everyone keeps talking about bonds to me, and I don't know what to think. Everyone says yes it is there, but I don't think it's possible."

"I hear ya! So, would you care to explain why you're gonna kill Ty Lee when we get out?"

"She's been driving me insane with all her bubbly happy peppy rhymy speeches! My ears are dead from her voice alone."

"Rhymes?" I tried to make my voice sound curious, because I was, but it came out sounding like an 'are you serious' voice.

"Don't even get me started! She's got me subconsciously rhyming now!" I smiled, and decided to start a little joke-off.

"Oh no! Subconscious Rhyming Syndrome! I've heard about that… it could be fatal! It's right up there next to Pentapox on the world's most deadly diseases list!"

"Oh no Doctor! Can you help me!?" Toph raised her voice to Ty Lee- like pitches, and I'm pretty sure my ears bled. To save my hearing, I called it off.

"Ok, never try to sound like Ty Lee again!"

"What you don't like my acting! I'm insulted!" She pretended to sound hurt, and I rolled my eyes. She pushed my head away teasingly, her gentle, delicate, cool hands felt incredible on my forehead, and I started to breathe slightly faster. I tried to focus on getting out.

"So, do we know anyone who knows us well enough to know just how to capture and hold us, and would know to line everything with wood, and would know exactly where to put it so we couldn't escape with earthbending, and be able to do it without being caught by everyone?"

"None of our enemies that I can think of would be able to make this. Combustion Man is dead, and didn't have the brains anyway, and Azula can't make her lightning wait until it is inside to go off. Unless we have a new enemy or… oh damnit! DAMNIT!!"

I heard her mumble something as she hit the wall, and I was almost positive I heard her murmur something about Katara. Then it clicked. Katara must've shoved us together because she thinks I should talk to her about everything. That's why she was so smirky when she was talking to me about the lover's legend. But, she couldn't have done it without the help of some… Aang. Oh crap! Aang must've helped! I started mumbling swears too.

I decided to play dumb, otherwise we could go to awkward town.

"You have an idea of who trapped us here?" I really hope she didn't notice my half lie. None of it I lied for, but I did infer that I didn't know something that I did. She didn't seem to pick anything up.

"N-n-no. I h-have n-no c-cl-clue." It didn't take a Grand Master of Earthbending to see she was lying, but the one thing that stumped me is why he sounded nervous to me. She would just tell me she thought Katara pulled this prank, unless she didn't want me to know that she thinks that. Why wouldn't she want me to know… unless… she thinks I would ask why she thought that. And that might mean her answer might be what mine would be; that I think it was Katara because she was trying to help me get together with Toph.

I hate when Katara gets all involved and in-my-businessy! She always goes several steps too far. Y'see, there's this line, Katara crossed it about five hundred miles ago!

_Maybe I do have a chance. Probably not, but what did I have to lose? _

_My best friend! _

_Oh yeah… that!_

_But, what do I have to gain?_

_The woman I love, the power I need to control, the bond that everyone keeps talking about, the woman I love, everyone getting off my back, the woman I love…_

Ok the goods outweigh the bad. I'm gonna tell her. But how? The words just kinda fell from my mouth.

"Uh, Toph… I'm gonna do something you might think is crazy, and you might not believe, but can you promise me you won't hate me, or… I don't know, launch me twenty feet in the air?" Toph looked slightly apprehensive.

"Sokka, I could never hate you, and I can't launch you up, cuz then I'd go down."

"Oh… yeah… so, I'm gonna do it now!"

"Ok!" She said, sounding slightly impatient, but mainly curious.

I took a deep breath, paused, hesitating for a moment, then timidly took that one last step towards her, and wrapped her in a tight kiss. It seemed to last forever, but I knew that I still didn't know what she thought. She'd neither kissed me back, nor pushed away from it.

I broke the kiss and took a step back to look at Toph's reaction. Her thin, delicate fingers reached up to touch her mouth.

"You haven't been going full out with the cactus juice, have you?" I was confused at the question. I just kissed her, and she's asking me what I've been drinking recently!?

"Uh… no!"

"And you know that I'm not Suki, or that other girl from the North Pole, or Ty Lee, or those poet girls?"

"I have eyes, I know that you're Toph!"

"And you kissed me? Toph me?"

"Yeah… but if you don't tell me what you're thinking soon I'm gonna definitely start wishing for the floor to swallow me up!"

"You're not kissing me just because of Suki's… yeah?"

"No, I was kissing you! Toph you!"

"Why?" Did she seriously not get it? Once again, words just came out of me.

"Because of who you are! Because I think of you every morning from when I get up, to when I go to bed. I love what you are, and I've seen what you do, how accepting you are, how fun you are to be around, and how you let out this great feeling of excitement into whatever you plan on doing, and you'll add fun to everything. I love how you'll always try, and put in everything you have into what you believe in, and how you throw your heart into everything that you do. I can see your kindness that you sometimes try to bury, and I've seen your strength. I've seen you at your best and worst, and I see this incredible person who I love more than life! You're a hell of a woman! And… I love you…"

I waited as I listened to everything I said. I meant every word of it, though I never thought I'd be able to formulate words to describe it. At the end, I faded off, slightly embarrassed, and just watched her. She kept her fingers on her mouth. Looking completely shell shocked. I just waited.

**Toph's POV: **He said he loved me! I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't said it… but he did. My mind went into a huge upheaval. I thought I went brain dead when he kissed me, but he said he loved me. Spirits when did he learn to speak so good!!

So I did the only thing that my mind would let me do. I ran forward, and kissed him. He was slightly surprised, but started kissing me back. I let out several months worth of passion, and love, and lust, and desperation to have Sokka holding onto me out in this kiss. Everything else in my sight melted away, and all that was left was Sokka, and his breathing, his pulse, his heartbeat going faster and faster, our lips pushing together in rhythm.

Needing to taste him, I urgently nibbled on his lower lip, begging for permission, which he happily granted. I let my tongue explore everywhere, from under his lips, his perfect teeth, the inside of his cheeks, the roof of his mouth, until I finally came to his tongue. They attacked, and played with each other, always in rhythm, as if forever entwined in an eternal dance. So we danced.

He pulled me closer in urgency, cupping my face gently in one hand, and rubbing his other down the length of my spine, his warm hands felt magical to the touch. They warmed my entire body, spreading like ripples from my cheeks, and from my back.

We never broke the kiss, each of us ferociously playing and teasing each other. I felt that he meant every word he said. Even if I couldn't tell if someone was lying, I could feel the truth on his lips as I covered them with mine.

The hand on my cheek moved away, as he buried it in my hair, and I felt him take out my headband, and undo my tight ponytail. I felt my hair fall down to my chest, ending right before my breasts. And he buried his hand in it, still not breaking away.

I wrapped myself around him, feeling his broad shoulders, and strong chest. I gently felt his entire chest, and rubbed my cold hands to his warm body as we continued to deepen our kiss. My head was spinning, and all of my senses were screaming in ecstasy. Then he regretfully pulled away, and I whimpered in protest. He caught his breath quickly then came back to me, the kisses short this time as he circled my entire face, continually coming back to my lips, and speaking in between kisses.

"Toph… you are… the most… amazing… girl… I ever… met… I… love… you!" I couldn't get enough of hearing it, but I still hadn't said what I've been trying too.

"Spirits! Sokka! I love you… so much! And… I want… you… Spirits! I want you… so bad… it hurts! I need you… to be with me! Always need you here… with me!"

He came back to my lips once again, and I kept him there, not letting him go. Not letting him get away again. We were in each other's arms for eternity, and I never wanted to move. Eventually we both fell asleep, overloaded from everything that happened today. He said he loves me! That was the last thought in my head before I drifted into a blissful sleep.

**Aang's POV: **I smiled as I watched with earthbending, and listened with airbending. They both figured out that we were behind it. I knew because I could hear their swearing with ease. I just laughed at them, but now I would have to get them when they go to sleep.

Then Sokka started talking about the ridiculous thing he was about to do, and I knew. My thoughts were confirmed when I felt him kiss her. It was a quick, and very chaste kiss, more like a small peck… but on the lips. Then I waited in their awkward silence for a moment, until I heard Toph ask the dumbest question ever.

"What's happening?" I was surprised, I hadn't noticed Katara come up behind me.

"Sokka kissed her, and she asked him if he was on Cactus Juice! Why did she ask such a dumb question?" Katara sighed in exasperation, as if I was missing some huge thing because I wasn't an all knowing girl. It's not my fault girls are impossible to interpret!

"She asked him that because she's afraid that he is delusional, and he doesn't know what he's doing, and he won't remember, or take it back later." I suddenly got it. That made sense.

"Oh!" Katara just walked away with another exasperated sigh, and I'm pretty sure I heard the words 'ignorant' and 'boys' escape her lips. I just turned back to spying on my friends.

Sokka was giving Toph this huge speech about why he loves her, and wow! I never knew Sokka was good at stuff like that! After his speech right before the Invasion I didn't think he had it in him. The speech was fantastic, and would have moved any girl. That included Toph. I felt her run over, and I felt them kiss, I smiled.

"Hey guys! Mission completed!" I yelled over to Ty Lee and Katara. They smiled and ran over, pestering me to tell them what was happening.

I wasn't even paying attention to the two squealing girls around me. I rolled my eyes. Girls! They always get so squeally whenever dating gossip comes around. I was focused on my two friends down there getting more and more passionate. I felt like I should look away, it was their private business, plus it was just getting downright weird to be seeing my friends like that. Embarrassed, I stood up and tried to direct my view away from my lust-filled friends and towards the two anxious girls waiting for me to spill everything.

"So… who's up for some waterbending practice, maybe teaching Teo more airbending?" I even sounded nervous. They just looked at each other, then back at me. Their eyes just screamed 'tie him up'. I decided the best thing I could do right now was run from the two angry chicks about to attack me. I broke into a slow sprint.

"Y'know, curiosity killed the Beavercat!" I screamed back to them in hopes of making them calm down. They sped up.

"And silence is about to kill the Avatar!"

Eep! I started to run faster. Sorry guys! Looks like I'll have to move you back to the world above later tonight instead of this afternoon. Much later tonight!!

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**Thanks for all the reviews guys. I love reading them and answering them. Gasp! That's right! I am one of those people who actually reply to my reviews almost as soon as I get them! So (here it comes) please review!**

**I know, I hate hearing it too, but I actually get more when I drive you people insane with those two words, so, I'm sorry!**


	25. You Die

**Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, Suki wouldn't have come back.**

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Chapter 25: You Die

**Sokka's POV: **I had never been a light sleeper. For me, it was always like, as soon as I was out, I was dead 'till I was rudely woken up in the late hours of the morning. Aang was always Mr. Sunshine, he'd wake up when the sun barely starts to rise, or even before that. He was usually the peppy childlike guy waking me up every morning, much to my dismay. When I'm groggy in the morning, I don't want Mr. Pep to wake me up.

Then I was captured by Azula. That's when I became a light sleeper. After I came back from that, every little noise at night woke me up. I was always slightly afraid that Hisato would be back with his flaming whip, or Azula would be here to wring out my back or stomach for blood, then make it boil as it trickled down my body.

So that was why I heard Aang and Teo come into the little room Toph and I were trapped in. Just Aang might've gone past me, but Teo was much newer, and less quiet.

"You get Toph, she's lighter. Just airbend yourself up like I showed you. If you need to, bounce off the walls of the tunnel like Ty Lee showed you." That was Aang.

"Got it, see you back up!" Then I felt Toph's cool body move away from mine, and I risked taking a peek to see Teo gently carrying her towards the tunnel by the wall, then Teo disappeared with my girlfriend.

Wow! Girlfriend…!

Then I feel Aang grab me, and hold me baby style, like Teo did to Toph, and started to Fly up through the ceiling tunnel. I was still annoyed at him, and it was getting fairly awkward. I decided to say something.

"Aang tomorrow I'm gonna kill you for that!" I said it so softy that I barely heard myself, but Aang had super hearing because of his airbender talents.

Aang freaked as he heard me speak, he thought I was asleep.

"Sokka, you awake?" He said gingerly, thinking that I may be talking in my sleep. I decided to get him into a false sense of security. I'll throw him off for a minute.

"No… don't take all the meat!"

"Phew!" Aang sighed. "For a minute I thought you were awake and talking to me!" Now I decided to open my eyes and really freak him out.

"Why yes Avatar Aang! I am awake! And I am angry with you for locking me in there!" Aang's shoulders automatically hitched, and glued themselves to his ears, and he nearly dropped me after a shocked voiced reaction which was several letters thrown together that I couldn't recognize. He also almost slipped on the piece of wall he was pushing himself off of.

"Heh heh… hiya Sokka! Been awake long?" He sounded nervous. He should be though, by next morning, I'm gonna show him rage that puts Azula to shame, only to be beaten by the fury Toph's gonna unleash on my poor unsuspecting sister.

"Only since when you and Teo came in! Did you ever think to ask me before you capture us and chuck us in a room that we can't get out of!" The end of the tunnel approached and he popped up and put me down before letting the trapdoor fall down to the room, and covering it up with earthbending.

"Well… it worked, didn't it! Plus you woulda never agreed!"

"So you spied on us too! I can't beli…" I took a breath and calmed myself down a bit. I was tired and not looking to exhaust myself. Then I continued. "Listen, thanks for helping… and yes, it worked, we are together now… but seriously, I thought we were being attacked! A little warning next time, ok!?"

"Fine. But what should I say? Should I say 'Hey Sokka, you might or might not fall down a secret trap door to find yourself in a wooden cage with the woman of your dreams this afternoon, so make sure you dress for the warm weather!' Should I say that?" I rolled my eyes at his bad joke.

"That should cover it!" Aang rolled his eyes, and I walked back towards my room, keeping a good look out for wooden doors in the floor. I got to my room safely this time, and collapsed on my bed, replaying the day's events. It was a hell of a day! Minutes later I slipped to sleep dreaming about a man who looked like he was Fire Nation, but with really old fashioned clothes. About three hundred years old I'd guess. He was kissing a Water Tribe girl who I had never met.

--

The next day I was sitting at the Fountain for breakfast. Everyone was here, except Katara and Toph. I was slightly disappointed to not see her here, but didn't think much of it. Apparently Aang did, he looked like a Giant Drill wreck, constantly touching the ground like I've seen him, and Toph do so many times. Then I felt a rumbling in the ground, and had to smirk.

Run Katara, run! Run for your life! But on second thought… go get her, Toph!


	26. News, Plans, and Tattoos

**Disclaimer: Just gonna take a wild guess here, but something tells me that I don't own Avatar.**

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Chapter 26: News, Plans, and Tattoos

**Toph's POV:** For some reason, Mai insisted that she go to a nearby Fire Nation town for a visit, and to catch up on the news of the outside world. So naturally, Zuko insisted that I go with her.

I wanted to stay, and enjoy my new boyfriend, but everyone insisted it was a good idea that I back her up. We both argued that Mai didn't need a babysitter, but no one seemed to listen. In the end, I just gave up and dug out my old Fire Nation disguise. Besides, it'd give us a chance to catch up. We haven't really talked since before we went to save Iroh. We had already landed Zuko's balloon, and now we were walking a short distance to get to the town.

"So, why did you want to visit the Hotheaded Nation again? I wanna know why I was dragged away from Sok… everyone." I caught myself before I said Sokka, if Mai caught onto that, there'd be no end to the teasing and questioning.

"What did you say? Before you corrected yourself, what were you about to say?" Oh crap! Dodge, dodge!

"Just answer the question!"

"Were you about to say Sokka!? Are you two together finally? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" No sense in avoiding it now.

"It just happened last night. Now will you answer my ques…" I was cut off.

"Really! Oh spirits! Finally! Tell me everything!" I was getting fed up. I wanted her answer to the damned question!

"Not until you answer my frickin question damnit!"

"Ugh, fine. Pleasantries first. I just wanted to get a newspaper, look at the town news board, find out how the hell we are gonna break into the royal palace without an army behind us!"

"Makes sense." I shrugged. I liked her logic, seeing as we only have a week and three days. We all started counting.

"Now your turn to answer the question!"

"Ok, one question." I knew I was going to regret this. She just sounded so curious.

"Tell me everything!"

"That's hardly one question! Fine. Aang and Katara set up a trap by creating a small room lined with wood that I couldn't bend myself out of that we both got to through secret trap doors also lined with wood. We made small talk, we kissed, we fell asleep, then I woke up in my room." I said to her, in as monotone a voice as possible, partially trying to diminish my story, partially trying to tease her for how monotone she always used to act when she was chasing us.

"Your imitation of me is hilarious! But seriously! That's it!? That can't be all that happened!" What was she suggesting?

"Hey! In my defense, it was a helluva make out session! We went the full nine yards with the kissing! We didn't pull up to second, but hey! I just found out he loves me, it was a little early to be planning kids now! Doncha think?"

"He said he loves you! Awww! I told you so! Awww…!"

I cut her off as I felt us walk into the town. If we mentioned any names, we could throw the whole mission for news off course. We already planned Mai to be called Mala, and I was going to be named Tyla. I remember Ty Lee when she begged to pick out our names.

_Flashback:_

"_Okay, Mai! You can be Mala! I always loved that name! It fits you, doncha think! Doncha agree Teo? It fits!" Oh Spirits does she ever stop talking? How does Teo stand this? Mai decided to save my brain and cut her off._

"_Sounds great Ty Lee, but what about Toph, you still need to name her!" I groaned. I thought she was supposed to be __helping __me!_

"_You'll be… Tyla! It's such a pretty name!"_

"_Ugh" I made a face, at the uber bubbly name. Ty Lee got all huffy and defensive. _

"_Excuse me! Did you just ugh your name? I would think you'd be more grateful for me giving you an authentic Fire Nation name so we don't blow our cover, and…" I just rolled my eyes as she just kept babbling on and on. She never stops! Mai quickly silenced her with a good bye, and we got away as fast as we could after Mai kissed Zuko good bye. _

_End Flashback:_

"So… um… Mala, where's the newspaper and the News Board?"

"Probably in the center of town. Right around… here."

We turned a corner and I felt a huge stack of papers on the ground, along with a stone board standing above the stack. I felt papers stuck to the stone by Birch tree sap, Buzzard Wasp honey, and papaya paste.

Mai trotted over and kneeled to pick up a paper. I heard some pages turning, an exited gasp, and then a stack of paper being shoved into my hands.

"Holy crap! Tyla you have to read this!"

"Sure Mala! Of course! Just let me just put on my de-blindification bracelet!" I tried to sound as sugary sweet as possible.

"Oh… sorry!"

One day I might just get a sign to remind everyone that I'm blind, cuz I'm running out of witty comebacks.

"Well, what does it say?" I prodded her to make her continue. She starts reading off the page.

"Listen to this: Brother of our Fire Lord, and traitor to our Nation, the retired General Iroh, an unidentified earthbender, and a small, but agile and well trained child of about eight caused a mass prison breakout, releasing most of the war prisoners from the attack at the Black Sun! It is unsure of where they are now, but it is believed that they are still somewhere in the Fire Nation. It is also widely believed that they are planning one more last ditch effort before the coming of the Comet in six days."

My eyes bulged in my head. Sokka's father escaped, he's with Iroh, they're planning for the invasion, and best of all, I knew exactly where they were.

"C'mon Mala! We need to tell everyone about this! Plus, we need to plan on who else to call for help!"

**Aang's POV:** Mai and Toph hadn't been gone thirty minutes before they came running back to the Fountain waving what looked like a newspaper.

I stopped sparring with Zuko and turned to the two girls charging at us.

Katara, who had been sparring with Sokka also turned to them. Katara had used waterbending to create an ice sword, and Sokka was practicing with her, but Katara had the upper hand seeing as she could adjust the length and thickness of her sword, as well as mend it if it broke.

Teo and Ty Lee were also practicing some high level airbending techniques along with flips and contortion. But Ty Lee put her feet below her head once she saw Mai coming back.

"Hey guys! Any good news?" Ty Lee chirped. Toph winced, something told me she hated Ty Lee's voice.

"You'd better believe it, you have to see this!" Toph handed the newspaper to Katara, while Sokka looked over her shoulder.

Both started gaping and looking at each other excitedly.

"What?" I ask. When they don't respond, I ask again. After a bit, I get fed up and just take it from their hands. I read it.

After a brief bit of skimming, my mouth drops to the floor. Zuko rips it out of my hands and Ty Lee and Teo peak over his shoulders.

"You can guess where they are, right?" Toph asked us expectantly. Katara, Sokka, Teo, and I nodded in response. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee shake their heads, confused.

"Right, you three weren't part of the gaang yet. Anyway, before the Invasion we met up on this island right outside of the Fire Lord's Palace City. I'd bet any of your guys' lives that their there!"

"But not yours?" I ask in full jokingness.

"Hey, as long as it's not mine, I'd bet it!"

Sokka went off with Zuko to plan on leaving the temple. I told Katara and most of the others to pack. The first thing she loaded was the rice, because it was right there. After about a month, we still had two whole pounds of rice left. What in the Spirit's names possessed Toph and Sokka to buy so much rice during our scamming phase? My guess was that Toph just bought it because she could; we had the money to overspend on immense bags of rice.

Teo turned to me, saying that he and Ty Lee were already packed, and that he was going to get some practice so that he could break in his new glider. I had finally finished it two days ago. Teo was so excited when I gave it to him.

"I have a better idea! Have I, or those scrolls taught you how to create a tornado yet?"

He shook his head excitedly, Ty Lee rolled her eyes to Mai, who I hadn't seen come back, this time with a bag on her back. Mai returned the look. Ty Lee sighed.

"Boys and their cataclysmic natural disasters!" She said very giggly to Mai.

"I know! No matter which nation, all boys like their catastrophes!"

I focused my attention back to Teo and started wind running in circles, soon creating a cyclone of air. When I stopped my huge tornado, I showed Teo how to tilt and angle his body, and how to use his staff to help him. He tried it out, and got it almost immediately.

I waited for him to come back to me, before I smiled triumphantly.

"Congratulations pupil Teo; you are now a Master Airbender!" His smile was larger than I had ever seen it; but I didn't see it for long, because Ty Lee ran up behind him and tackled her friend in a tight hug, making him execute a lovely face plant. Mai rolled her eyes behind them. I would give it a ten!

"Now, you are an airbender, but you're also from the Earth Kingdom. Would you like to shave your hair and get airbender tattoos like a monk, or would you like to stay the way you are?" Teo turned to me, looking slightly torn. Who would want to dissolve all their ties with the Kingdom that bore you? But I think he wanted to be as much of an Air Nomad as possible. Ty Lee whispered something in his ear, and he started to smile. Mai looked at Ty Lee curiously, then she started whispering in Mai's ear.

"Is it possible for me to get the tattoos, keep my hair, and then have a clothing style like a mix of the two? Ty Lee already offered to make me something, she said she could." I smiled.

"Of course! It'll be harder to tattoo you with hair, but it's certainly doable."

Then I wind ran to my room to get the tattooer, and came back.

**Ty Lee's POV: **It looked like the thing Aang was gonna use would inject the ink into his skin with a needle, several times. Teo saw this, and winced a little. This time, Mai had an idea to try and help my friend. Aang looked annoyed when he saw us whispering again.

"Hey, would you like me to dull the nervous system where you're getting tattooed? It'd make it easier!"

At the same time, both Aang and Teo shook their heads. I didn't get why Aang was answering, it wasn't his choice.

"You can't you anything to dull the pain. It only stings the tiniest bit, but it still is supposed to symbolize the burden that we carry to inflict harm on other people, and it tells us that with this power, we mustn't forget about our vows of 'harm none if possible'." I frowned, grumpily, then giggled a bit.

"So, where will these arrows be going?" Mai had her hand on her face, and was shaking her head.

"On his head, down his back, and to his arms and legs."

"So are you gonna…" I blush when I think about Teo in the buff, getting pinpricked by Aang. Aang catches on, and Teo starts to blush too. Mai just rolls her eyes and elbows me, giving me that 'way to go!' look.

"Oh, no no! I'm going to show him how to do those, down there, so he can do them in the privacy of his own room. I'm just gonna do his head, arms, back, the lower part of his legs." I got it. Teo took over at his thighs. The heat on my cheeks went down, and Teo lost his redness too.

I sat and watched as Aang started at his head, slowly and accurately poking him with the needle. Teo winced and quietly made little pain gasps at each prick.

"C'mon! You've faced several Fire Nation troops before, take your tattooing like a man!" Aang was joking. Teo was staring at the pendant on Aang's neck, showing his Grand Mastery.

"So, Aang, what did you have to do to be a Grand Master?" I was Aang freeze for a second before he carefully went back to his work, he had now moved down to the top of his head, Teo's most visible arrow was done now. He looked great.

"Well, there's a scroll that has three moves on it. If you master them, then you're a Grand Master… and then I have to take more time off of my firebending training to make you an awesome, original necklace like mine." Teo rolled his eyes at Aang's joke, but I saw them shine with something I had seen before; ambition.

"Where is this scroll? The library?"

"No, those scrolls you used were replicated for the library in each temple. There's only one of this kind. Right now, it's in my room. After you've finished the last of your tattoos, you'll need to rest for an hour at least. But I could teach you them after dinner.

Teo nodded carefully, as Aang had moved down to the back of his neck.

"Uh, Teo. I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off." Teo shrugged understandably, then, before I knew it, his tunic was gone, and I was looking at his thin, yet muscular chest.

I sucked in a quick breath and my stomach twisted in a funny way. To make it go away, I spun into a headstand, turning away from my friend. I don't know what standing on my head had to do with an annoying stomach, but the squeezing lessened.

I did some contorting for a while before I allowed myself a peek at how things were coming. It must have been longer than I thought, because Aang had already gone up one arm, and had started on his second arm. I smiled at Teo, who grinned back before making a jokey bored face. I giggled.

I turned back to my twists. Maybe I could pass the time for both of us by putting on a little show. The idea excited me, it was like being back at the circus.

I tried to twist farther than I ever had before. I must have looked goofy, or good, because the guys were cracking up. I looked, and saw my shirt ever so slightly inching upwards. Both were fairly nice guys, and weren't looking too much, but they are still teenagers. What can they do? I yanked it down, my face hot.

"Not a word from you!" I yelled, embarrassed to Teo.

"Hey Ty Lee, had a growth spurt recently?" Teo asked me teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! You shut up!" I was blushing.

_Why was I blushing? __Maybe because two guys saw me while my shirt was riding up! __But that's happened before, no extra red cheeks. __Shut up. __Why were you blushing Ty Lee? __I said Shut up! __You know why, don't you? __I said SHUT THE HELL UP!_

I snapped out of my mental argument as I completely beat up the little voice. It disappeared and I went back to my performance. It went on for a bit until my arms were too sore to continue. I popped up to take jokey a bow.

I nearly choked. Oh good Spirits! Now his pants were off too! He was just sitting there in his swimming trunks looking sheepish. Aang was done with one leg, and was just below his knee on the other. Teo looked great. Like a real airbender, only in green trunks.

Hastily I bowed, not knowing what to say. Finally I got out an "I'm going to find out what ridiculous plan some of the other guys are coming up with so I can tease them about it mercilessly." I noticed that Mai was still there, leaning against the wall, smirking at me. I grumbled. "C'mon Mai, you too."

After we were far enough away, Mai just cracked up. I couldn't understand much of what she said through the giggles, but I did hear her saying "you shoulda seen your face!" and "I'm never gonna let you forget that!"

I smiled evilly, and perked up!

"Ok Mai, that's fine with me, but first, can we talk about what I saw going on with you and Zuko last night?! Now that is discussion worthy!"

She gaped at me dumbly, then when her face changed, I figured that it was better for me to run.

**Sokka's POV: **I shook my head. That wouldn't work either! I voiced my concerns to Zuko, who was sitting across from me, equally annoyed.

"What if we meet up with everyone, then we attack the city, then Aang and you flew to the palace and you cut off his fire supply and Aang takes him down. The rest of us will handle the city and the army?"

"No, I would be better used in the bulk of the army. I've been practicing my… whatever it is recently. I'm can control it now, so I can do the whole glowy thing while fighting with my sword, but only when Toph is fairly close. Without her, I don't have that control, and I can't fuel as much power to everyone." I argue.

There must've been a hint of pride in my voice that I'm so powerful with her. Just after two days of training with her, my abilities as 'The Giver' had skyrocketed. Aang took me to this room he found, just after that. It was a lot like the secret room at the Southern Air Temple, only they were past Givers, and there was always someone else with them. They were always boy and girl. I grinned at each and every one of them, feeling a twinge of connection between some of the other girls and guys who played their part as 'the Key'. I had enjoyed that field trip.

I snap back to Zuko as he tries to come up with a way around the speed bump I gave him.

"Well maybe Toph could go with you and Aang to…" Zuko was cut off by a voice at the door.

"Not a chance Sparky! I'm not gonna just sit back and watch a battle that won't even be exciting because of me being there! Besides, the troops on the Field are gonna need me more." I wrapped my arm around Toph as she sat down next to me. With her there, I could think better.

"Then I'm gonna be in the Field too! How about this? Katara and Aang can go to the palace, there'll most likely be guards, so Katara will take care of them to help Aang save his energy for the Fire Lord. Zuko, you can take care of Azula, and Toph and I will be in the field helping the troops. Aang said that Teo is high up enough where he can teach him the Cosmic Switch so he can create a second eclipse while holding back the comet."

Zuko thought for a moment. Toph was smiling.

"Sounds good, only what about Mai and Ty Lee?"

"They'll be in the Field."

"No! That's too dangerous. I don't want Mai to get hurt!"

"Zuko, she'll be fine! She's a great fighter! Plus she'll have Ty Lee, and our entire army behind her!" Toph sounded pissed off.

"What if that army isn't enough?" Zuko seemed anxious. There as something he wasn't telling us.

"Zuko, you're not telling us everything, why don't you think it's enough?"

Zuko shoved Mai's newspaper towards me. He flipped to the third page and we saw the heading. I read it to myself. First, it was great news! On the Day of Black Sun, Ba Sing Se took back their city from the Fire Nation and kicked the Dai Li out.

I was wondering why that was a problem, then I got it. All of those troops, and the entire Dai Li was coming back to the Fire Nation. That would at least double the number of troops we'd have to take out. We were badly outnumbered already!

I thought it couldn't get any worse, but Zuko flipped the page again. This was an article on how the Fire Princess Azula had ordered the number of guards in the prisons to be cut in half, and had those that were taken out enlisted into the army. I remember that there were dozens of prisons all over. That also greatly added to their numbers.

"Oh yeah! We're screwed!" I clenched my fists into balls, and Toph comfortingly stroked my arm. Zuko was right.

"There has to be a way!"

Just then, two red things flew into the window. One landed on my shoulder, the other on Zuko's arm.

"Hawky!! Where were you!?" I smiled, then Hawky bounced off my shoulder, and sat down right in front of Toph. Shocked, she petted the bird lovingly before going to the pouch and pulling out a small scroll of paper with a very official stamp. It was a letter from her parents! She stood up nervously.

"I'm gonna take this to Katara to get it read to me." I looked at her, confused.

"I can read too, if you want, I can read it to you right here."

"Nah, I'd prefer to hear what my parents said to me without Sparky the Spectator here. See ya in a bit!"

Just like that, she disappeared into the ground. I guess it was a girl thing. Anyway, I turned to Zuko, who was reading the note from the other Messenger Hawk with a goofy grin on his face.

"Well! What does it say? Who's it from?" Zuko finally looked up, as if remembering that I existed.

"It's from Iroh! He said that before he left, he had talked with Aang about all the places he's been, and took visits to some of those places. He said that a certain 'King Bumi' and Earth Kingdom troops following him had joined them, as well as several troops from Ba Sing Se, various high ranking members of the Order of the White Lotus, and troops from the Northern and Southern Water tribes."

"Wow! That's a lot of troops! We may be able to pull this off!"

"There's more! Also, there are various Earthbender troops who said they knew the Avatar from The Great Coal Battle who had come, as well as two joined Earth Kingdom tribes called the Gan Jins and the Zhangs. There are also a group of warriors who call themselves the Deserters who're led by a Firebender who said he knew you. Then there are a group of Earth Kingdom citizens who lived at the Northern Air Temple. They call themselves 'the Flyers.' Apparently they have a good amount of aerial bombs."

I gaped. That must be everyone we had ever met with a strong military type thing we've ever met! I wouldn't be surprised if Zuko had said that Long Feng had come to help us riding the Serpent from the Serpent's Pass. Or maybe Oyaji could come riding the Unagi.

"Still think we're screwed?"

We both loosened up a bit and began talking lightly. We both had to pack, so we started to go to the door to get to our rooms. Neither of us had taken a step outside the door frame before we heard running, and jumped back into the room for our own safety.

We saw Mai chasing Ty Lee with a huge knife in her hands; Ty Lee was running away frantically.

"Ty Lee! When I catch you, I'm gonna kill you! Then for the battle, I'm gonna quickly resurrect you, just so, after the battle I can kill you again!" Mai shouted, which only made Ty Lee run quicker.

We nervously looked down the hall to see them both running away.

"What was that about!?"

Zuko shrugged. "I don't know?"

We just shook our heads and went to go pack. Pff, women, go figure!


	27. Warning

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar just as surely as Tom will never eat Jerry. **

**(Sigh, you gotta love Saturday Morning Cartoons, which is what my sister is watching right now.)**

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Chapter 27: Warning

**Sokka's POV: **I had just slung my stuff on Appa; I was all ready to leave. All of my very few possessions were stuffed into my legendary Earth Kingdom bag. I remember I got it right before we'd met Toph.

Several others had done the same; I wasn't the first to have loaded up Appa. I saw a neon pink bag, and I assumed it was Ty Lee's. Mai's was also there; her's was easy to indentify because it was a deep red, and had her name stitched into it. Toph's dark green sling was there too. Also, there was one with oranges like an air nomad's colors, with tans from the earth kingdom. That had to be Teo.

Zuko's, Aang's, and Katara's still were missing. I looked at the sun, confused. Aang had told us to pack an hour and a half ago! I know he had to tattoo Teo, but Teo had thrown his bag in a half of an hour ago.

I decided to go look for him. Aang probably had less stuff than me, so something serious had to be holding him up. I started looking in the library, where I saw Teo and Ty Lee putting some scrolls back. Teo looked great with his new arrow, and his new clothes matched his bag.

They had Air Nomad styles. When it came to colors, there was a lot of orange, and some yellows of airbender clothing, but the cuffs of the pants, the collar, and the cuffs on the sleeves had Earth Kingdom tans with green stitching wherever there was tan. He looked like a good mix between an Air Nomad and an Earth Kingdom citizen, even though anyone could tell that the Air Nomads were winning.

I kept moving down the halls. The first place I checked was his room, but Aang wasn't there. He wasn't with Zuko either. I checked Katara's room too; no luck. He wasn't in that huge room Toph used for earthbending, and I checked the flat that Zuko firebends on.

My next guess would be the pond type thing that Katara and Toph made for waterbending practice. My nature obsessed sister had even added grass and trees.

I turned and started heading towards the pond, it was on another wing, so it took me a while to get there. But when I finally did get there, there was an earthen door blocking it. That's strange! Usually there is no door to get to the pond.

I unsheathed my meteorite sword and used the strong metal to silently break through the rock, unless this was a Dai Li made wall. I resheathed it after making a small hole in the floor, and once the dust cleared, I crawled through.

Once I was fully standing, my jaw dropped in shock of what I was seeing. For a minute my brain stopped functioning, then something in me snapped, and I unsheathed my sword again.

There, lying by the pond was Aang, making out with my baby sister.

"AANG!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING ON MY LITTLE SISTER!?" I started charging at the startled, and clearly flustered Avatar across the pond from me. Katara got up in surprise too, but there was anger in her features. My brain didn't comprehend anything besides the message in my head screaming to kill the young airbender.

I aimed perfectly at his head, and swung, but he was too quick for me, and before I knew it, he had ducked under my arm and was now behind me. I paused for a minute to recollect my surroundings, but by then, Katara had created an ice sword, and had taken my own sword out of my hands.

"Calm down Sokka! I'm old enough to make my own choices about who I can date! I don't need your seal of approval!"

I had calmed down a bit, so my brain was able to process words now, but I was still fuming.

"As your brother, I have a need to know that you've suddenly started dating one of my friends!" I compromised a little, she did kinda have a bit of a point, slightly. But I hadn't even been told that she was dating my best friend!

"Oh good Spirits! Where have you been the past month and a half!?" My mind started spazzing again.

"A month!? I've been kept in the dark about this for a month!? Was I the last one to be told?!" Katara just nodded in response. I growled, but unclenched my fists.

"Fine. I'm happy for you. Plus, I can't think of any other person I hold in higher regards than Aang. I'd trust him completely, so, I'll be supportive."

Katara's stubborn face broke into a grin and she leapt up and hugged me. I was surprised at the gesture, though I really shouldn't be by now, and I returned it. Aang decided to break up our moment with a timid question.

"Is it safe to come back yet, without your brother completely slaughtering me?" I almost laughed at his nervous voice. I couldn't believe that I could terrify the Avatar.

"Yes Aang, its fine! Sokka is completely supportive!" I turned to see Aang sitting panicked-looking on a small, floating, ice platform in the middle of the pond. At Katara's response, he jumped back to shore, keeping his eyes on me the whole time.

"Anyway, I came to tell you to hurry and load your junk on Appa because we need to leave as soon as possible!"

Aang smiled at the subject change and picked up his yellow and orange bag, it looked fairly new. Katara did the same thing, only with a blue sling.

"Hey, Katara, would you mind bringing my bag to Appa for me, I forgot my staff in my room!"

"Sure Aang, not a problem! See you in a minute!" Aang airbended his bag to Katara, who took it and walked out. As soon as I was sure that Katara was gone, I turned back to Aang and roughly grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him so his feet were dangling just barely off the ground.

"Ok Aang, listen closely!" I growled at him, he whimpered. "You do anything to hurt my sister, move one inch out of place, and I promise you that after this war is over, no matter where in the world you go, I'm gonna find you, and you'd wish we'd never found you from that iceburg!" He was positively shaking now. I think he got the message, so I dropped him, and started to walk away.

"Hurry up in getting your staff by the way, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get there."

Aang just stood there shocked for a minute before speaking up.

"I'd never hurt her, I love her more than life itself! You of all people would understand that." Then he took off, and started wind running to get his staff.

It was my turn to stand dumbfounded, but I quickly snapped out of it. Hopefully I wouldn't have to watch my baby sister doing things I didn't even think she knew with her tongue with Aang the whole way to the Meeting Island.


	28. Bets

**I'm going to be leaving to go to a summer writing program at a college in five days (Fri. July 12), so I'm gonna try to finish the story, but if I can't, sorry guys! I probably won't be able to update at Duke (probably), so don't be surprised if you don't immediately get replies to reviews. Sorry!**

**Disclaimer: Damnit! Still don't own Avatar!**

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Chapter 28: Bets

**Katara's POV: **I glanced back as Appa took off; we were leaving the Western Air Temple. I was going to miss the Pond, the Fountain, having my own room with an actual bed! But I wanted to see Dad and the rest of our friends who we've gathered around the world.

Sokka had told me about Omashu and Ba Sing Se's take-back on the Day of Black Sun, and I decided to surprise Aang when we arrived with Bumi being there. I finally got Sokka to agree to keeping the secret.

We all knew that Appa could only hold about five people easily, so three of us had to find other modes to get there. It was easier to handle than we thought it'd be. Teo and Aang would be riding their gliders next to us, and Ty Lee volunteered to hang onto the top of one of the gliders. I thought she was crazy, but she actually looked like she was having a blast. Every now and again, Mai and I would wave to her, or give her a goofy face if she got bored.

Sokka was our Map reader, so he was getting us to the island. According to him, we still had at least five hours to go.

Just to be mean to each other, Mai, Toph, and I all decided that none of us should be allowed to talk to or come in purposeful contact with our boyfriends the entire time; not even to ask "are we there yet?" or something as casual as that. All four of the guys had automatically started placing bets on who would crack first; according to them, they were allowed to do anything to cheat.

Aang and Zuko had both betted on Mai, probably because she is almost always with Zuko now, and talked with him a lot. Also, they probably figured that if they work together, they can figure some evil plan out to win. The boys decided that evil plans were completely legit.

Sokka had said me, and I have no clue as to why. Right then I seriously struggled to keep myself from freezing my brother upside down to the underside of the armor Appa was wearing.

Teo had also said me for some reason. I think that Ty Lee had told him to bet on me; for some reason, he'll listen to anything that girl says. I had a good guess as to why.

**Mai's POV: **The first two hours were easy. Toph, Katara and I talked, shared gossip, and, to drive the guys insane, Katara and I told embarrassing childhood stories of Sokka and Zuko. Toph had to contribute goofy stories about Sokka and Aang too.

We kept kind of quiet, so they didn't know what we were talking about, then one of us would ask a question about the story very loudly. We all silently cracked up at Sokka's reaction when Katara told us the story of how Sokka accidentally knocked down an ice watch tower when he was horse-playing with some Arctic Seals.

"Seriously! You expect me to believe an Arctic Seal had shoved his butt through a wall of ice!? Are your seals part Mountain Goat Bull?" I said it as loudly as I could without it looking weird. 

Up in the front, we heard an incomprehensible sound that sounded like a shriek of shock and embarrassment and Sokka's shoulders had shot up to his ears. We were all biting our lips.

I heard Zuko snicker in amusement; Aang didn't have nearly as much composure. He cracked up and flew right next to Sokka and continued laughing right in his face.

"Seriously Aang! I'm debating right now whether or not to shoot your Glider out of the sky, so I suggest you get the hell away from me!" Aang flew off quickly, but stayed close to our little circle. Teo and Ty Lee were watching intently, Ty Lee was explaining to Teo what we were doing to be mean to the guys; i saw them both smile as Teo leaned in closer to listen.

Next it was my turn to tell a Zuko story. I had to talk about when he was seven and had started talking and walking in his sleep. I was at a sleepover with Azula, and we brought him into Azula's room, and started asking him embarrassing questions, and he answered them all.

"Sparky actually told you that!! Does he still talk in his sleep! This would be awesome for blackmail!" Toph said enthusiastically.

I wouldn't doubt that she'd do that. Katara quickly looked back and told us that his ears had turned a neon red, and he kept looking down, embarrassed. He looked so cute when he was embarrassed. If I had been allowed contact with him, I would've gone up and hugged him right there.

Teo and Ty Lee were fairly close too. We could all see that her arms were getting tired, so Teo dropped her off for a bit. She joined our circle. We grinned.

We had seen Aang circling Appa very closely on his glider, cracking up about Sokka and Zuko, while those two boys were probably wishing they could sink into the floor right now.

"Okay! Time for an Aang funny thing!" Toph said loudly and slightly maniacally. She had that evil grin on, and Aang's huge smile dropped immediately to one of panic.

Toph continued to tell us about this one earthbending lesson she had with him in a small canyon that was lined with small earth pillars. She had been trying to teach Aang her Earth Domino trick. He had tried to do it, and one of his earth dominos picked him up, and threw him halfway across the hollow, where he landed straddling one of the rock pillars. Katara and I started into another fit of giggles, imagining the small boy falling in that way onto a hard, rock pillar. I just had to pull a joke.

"Ooh! Sorry Katara! Looks like you won't be having children with him anytime soon!"

The monk quickly flew away from Appa on his glider, but he failed in covering up the deep red quickly spreading through his cheeks. We heard Sokka snort into him hand, and Zuko cracked that heartwarming smile that I had missed when I was telling his childhood story.

We went around a couple of more rounds; Ty Lee got on and off of Appa at random intervals. Soon after that, we had run out of things to talk about. Katara even got off of Appa at one point after about three hours. She had used the water in clouds to make a cloud bed, and she rode the cloud bed, lazily bending it forward. It was soon after that that the boys started trying to win their bets.

**Toph's POV: **None of the guys placed a bet saying I'd be the first to crack. That was a smart move on their parts, because I've had experience of not talking to Sokka for weeks on end, so, not acknowledging him for two more hours? I figure that I can deal.

Teo and Sokka were paired up in trying to make Katara lose, while Aang and Zuko were trying to make Mai lose.

Sokka's first attempt was making Appa cut Katara's cloud pattern off, making her skid into Aang. Mai described how she had great restraint in merely blushing and then gathering up her cloud, and grounding herself on Appa. Mai and I extensively teased her. Feeling through the thin layer of rock that Sokka had padded the saddle with, I could feel her heart beating rather fast. She seemed anxious.

All three of us were getting kinda antsy. I was shakingly playing with the meteor bracelet that Sokka had given me. I was molding it into swords, pouches, everything that came to mind. But I was strong enough not to talk to him for another hour.

Aang and Zuko still had yet to strike, my guess was that their try was coming.

We just sat there, getting antsy for about ten minutes. We were getting into Fire Nation territory now, so we had to go above the clouds. Sokka brought Appa up, and Aang closely followed. We all shivered a bit, except for Aang and Zuko, who could make themselves warm all over their body.

For some reason, we didn't get used to the colder temperature; in fact, it was getting colder. What's up with that?

I felt Mai shivering next to me, she had told me once that she hated cold weather, and that she could get cold fairly easily. Just run her under luke-warm water and she's already goose-bumpy, she said.

I almost cracked up when I got it. I was wondering why the wind speed was faster on one side of me than the other. Aang was airbending cold air at Mai so she'd get frozen and go snuggle with her human heater. Even across the saddle he was radiating heat in a kind of show-offy way that could be considered teasing to Mai.

At least Aang and Zuko were more subtle than Sokka and Teo was. On my other side, Katara giggled into her hand too, getting what they were doing.

Mai continued to shiver next to me, her teeth chattering. Turning my attention to Sparky, I felt two serious emotions just pouring off of him. For one thing, he was grinning wickedly because it was working, and he knew it. But on the other hand, I could feel his anger and upsetness over making her cold and uncomfortable.

This was going to be an easy win for me.

**Katara's POV: **I didn't look at the annoyingly enticing airbender flying right next to us. I had a challenge to win. Instead, I tried not to think about him.

First I tried staring at the clouds, which I loved making shapes out of in my head. But then I thought of Aunt Wu reading the clouds, then I thought about her prediction, then that led to Aang. Grr.

I looked down, but all there was, was clouds. I decided to see how much water they were holding, which was strangely a lot for such a puffy cloud. I gathered up enough to make a bed out of water, then decided to get off of Appa for a while. Ty Lee must need another break anyway.

Lazily, I twisted my wrists, keeping the water up. I floated as low as I could to the clouds.

Maybe if I make the tiniest peephole to see where we were that was only about a chopstick thick, no one would see. Quietly I made a chopstick hole and peered down so I wouldn't peer up at the adorable Avatar above me.

We were above a meadow, near a town and a forest. The meadow looked all green, except for a couple of patches of red. There were also a couple dark, circular patches where the grass looked dead beyond a natural level. Crap!

I flew up.

"We're right above Hama's home." I told Toph, uncomfortably. Toph looked at me and patted my shoulder.

That woman was a crazy lunatic, and I had learned some of my most advanced techniques from her. Even worse, I passed them on to Aang. After I taught him how, I promised that I would never bloodbend again.

"Who's Hama?" Ty Lee asked curiously, probably not seeing my discomfort. Toph felt it through the rock though, so she nodded to me, telling me she'd take over.

"During the early sieges at the Southern Water Tribe, she was a Waterbender; the last one in fact. She was captured and put in a cruel prison. She escaped by learning how to control the water, or the blood in someone else's body. She could only do it during full moons though. When we were passing by the village in the Fire Nation where she lived, she taught Katara some of her tricks, including bloodbending. Katara didn't want to learn it, but when she put Aang and Sokka in danger, Katara was forced to use it… uh, the end!" Toph said, her voice trailed off into a joke at the end.

Mai and Ty Lee looked at me sympathetically. I forced myself to shrug it off, giving a smile of thanks.

"If we are over Hama's village, that means we have less than an hour till we get there. Forty-five minutes is my guess." Sokka called from the front.

In desperation, Aang started making us even colder. I used waterbending to keep myself warm, but it was still annoying. Only forty-five more minutes before I can kick the crap out of Aang for freezing me in the process.

**Toph's POV:** Only about thirty more minutes. I was seriously getting worried that Mai would catch something and become seriously sick from how cold Aang's wind was making her. Zuko wasn't helping by heating himself up, and the air around him until just before Mai.

She was soaked in a cold sweat. I wouldn't be surprised if the little beads of sweat covering her did freeze.

Katara turned to watch her; we both knew she was going to crack any minute now. Although, I have to admit, she did better than I thought.

I had called it. She finally broke down, then crawled over to Zuko, and burying herself into his shoulder. I heard Aang give a quiet cheer, but through the rock, I felt Zuko panicking when she felt just how cold she was.

I was going to guilt trip him about that forever, after I interrogate him in his sleep of course! Blackmail and guilt trips! The stuff that buys new stuff!

Wait-a-minute! If Mai had cracked, are Katara and I going up against each other for second? When I touched Aang's staff on the saddle, but felt no Aang I knew I was free to chill with Sokka all I wanted. I crawled up to Appa's head where Sokka was grumbling angrily.

"Gah! Now I hafta let them humiliate me! Stupid bet!" He didn't even realize I was behind him.

"What do they get to do to you?" I was interested. Would I be able to watch?

"Geep! Oh, hey Toph! Because of the stupid bet, now Aang and Zuko get to pull a public humiliation on me and Teo! Don't know what it is." He said it bluntly, and I cracked up. I could totally give those two some great ideas! But not now.

I slid down to Appa's neck carefully. I had never been on his neck before, only on his back. Once I knew I was safely seated, I kissed Sokka on the cheeks and buried myself into his shoulder like I'd seen Mai do, having his arm wrap around the back of my neck.

He was a great pillow. I snuggled closer. His heartbeat was going wild. I couldn't help but grin, knowing I'd done that to him.

It was short lived though. With his free hand, Sokka pulled on the rope on Appa's horns, and he dipped down. Freaking out slightly by the new feeling, I climbed back up to the saddle, and held on there.

Soon there was a thump, and solid ground. We were back at the Meeting point we had used before. I gaped as my feet touched the ground. There must be at least five thousand people right past the hill. More than twenty times as much from the Day of Black Sun.

Oh yeah! The Fire Lord is so about to get his butt handed to him on a silver platter!


	29. Exhaustion and Duels

**Hey guys! On Friday I leave, but I am trying. I have the next couple of chaps. written, but I'm having trouble writing the final battle. I know what I want to hapen, I'm just having trouble on how to write it. I feel like the kid in that nursery rhyme who put his finger in the wall; another problem pops up in two seconds! But I'm working hard for you guys. I'll try to post more!**

**Disclaimer: I own a black lab puppy named Roxy, and I own a new iPod (my last one was stolen), and I own a... wait... what?... oh Avatar? Nope, don't own that.**

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Chapter 29: Exhaustion and Duels

**Aang's POV:** We stepped down off of Appa, and I grounded my glider. Zuko and Sokka worked to get Appa out of his armor, his tail at least. They got his tail no problem. Legs were always harder.

I was exhausted; I had never done a five hour glider ride. Five hours of bending those goddamned air currents around my hard glider had really worn me out. The rice that Katara had hid in the snack compartment of my glider had helped when I found them two hours ago, but the energy snack had worn off by now.

I couldn't feel vibrations I was so tired; but that's ok. I knew basically who was coming. Katara had said that everyone from the failed Invasion would be there, minus a few people who had died in the harsh prison.

Appa was exhausted too. As soon as we landed, he collapsed and fell immediately asleep right there. Momo slid down Appa's back and fell asleep on his tail. It was smart of him. There had never been anything cozier to sleep on than the soft comfy, fuzzy body of my oldest friend, and animal guide.

After that, I don't remember anything else.

**Katara's POV: **We were all exhausted; Aang and Teo the most. They didn't get any breaks like the rest of us. I remember Aang just conking on Appa as soon as we landed. I quickly followed suit. Without the armor, Appa did look like a great mattress, and Zuko had managed to peel off all of Appa's armor, which was strewn everywhere.

I tentatively climbed up Appa's bare back, ready to just curl up and sleep for a month. I looked around to where we were. This was the spot where we had made Aang's Koala Sheep bed.

Mai and Zuko were curled up in Appa's saddle, that was messily dropped about ten feet from Appa. They were both already asleep; conked out in each other's arms.

Sokka was strewn across some bushes messily, spreading his arms and legs out so that anyone within a two foot radius would be in danger of being hit by his limbs.

It looks like Teo and Ty Lee had found the Koala Sheep bed. Teo was knocked out on it, lying on his back as if he was an army soldier statue. Ty Lee was curled up in a little ball with her knees tucked into her stomach, held in place with her arms. She was using Teo's stomach as a blanket. They looked so cute.

I didn't remember seeing Toph, or any earth tent nearby, but my sleep deprived mind thought nothing of it as I collapsed into a dreamless sleep.

**Toph's POV: **Those guys are such wimps. All we do is sit all day and they act as if they just ran the entirety of the Earth Kingdom by foot. Appa had a right to be tired; he had been carrying five people all day. I suppose Aang and Teo would be tired of flying all day too, especially Teo 'cuz he had to carry Ty Lee most of the time.

The others had just been lounging the entire time, and had no reason to be so tired. I was up and awake, bustling with built up energy of not having anything to do most of the five hours.

I decided to visit the troops. There were a few faces I was looking for specifically.

First I found Tyro and Haru. Haru said that he'd taught most of the earthbenders the few basics I'd taught him about feeling vibrations. They could get Morse messages during the battle, but that was about it.

After a few minutes, I started to hope to run into my old buddies; the Boulder and The Big Fat Hippo. Now I just call them Hippo and Boulder; I love seeing Boulder complain when he keeps reminding me to add the crucial 'the'. I used to fight against them in the Earth Rumble competitions, now they were close buddies.

All Katara talked about before we left was how surprised Aang was gonna be to see Bumi. Apparently, King Bumi was a crazy, insanely good earthbender. I looked forward to fighting with him.

I felt some one following me, and it was getting weird. I turned around and shot a pillar of rock at the man. The sketchy guy in question stepped back as soon as I'd sent the pillar, and rammed into it with his head; the column broke up into small boulders. It was an odd blocking technique for an earthbender. I'd never seen it before.

"Why are you following me just to shoot a pillar at me? That wasn't very nice!" What was this whack job playing at.

"Are you serious!? You were the one stalking me!"

"Okay then, I would like an earthbending match! The loser is the stalker!" His request was really weird, but I couldn't help but grin at the frail old guy who I could easily overpower.

"If that's what you want!"

I stood silent, waiting for him to move, and he did the same. Almost as if he used my same technique. Oh well, guess I'll hafta start the unconventional way.

The entire fight was a blur. I must've been slightly tired if I couldn't remember the whole thing. The fight took longer than I thought it would, he seemed to understand my unconventional moves, and he had some wierd ones of his own, that were mad, but worked well. But in the end, I won. I was panting.

"Very good young one. You must be the Avatar's teacher. And it looks like you are the one who fits the lock!" This old guy is so weird.

"Yeah, I'm Aang's Earthbending Master. But I have no clue what you're talking about with the lock. Who are you anyway?"

"I'm just an old geezer who happens to be a powerful King!"

"But you're an earthbender, and you're not the Earth King so how…" I trailed off as it dawned on me. "You're King Bumi!?"

"Yuppity yup, yup, yup! Only I have a much better royal pet."

I felt a giant slobbery monster come up and lick Bumi. I was positive that I heard the King call the giant monster 'Flopsy'. By now I was completely comfortable with giant animals. First there were my Badgermole Masters, then I met Appa, then Sokka's angry Saber Toothed Moose Lion, Bosco wasn't too big, but he certainly was a slobbery monster, and now Flopsy.

"What did you mean about that 'lock' comment?"

"Are you not The Key?"

"How did you…" he cut me off.

"And that tall Water Tribe boy is the Giver." I heard his voice, he wasn't asking a question.

"I'm going now." I sounded impatient, it must just because I'm slightly tired, but I still had two friends that I had to say hi to. Bumi seemed to know this.

"Go catch up your friends. I need to be rested to greet Aang in the morning. I brought the genamite!"

I didn't stick around to find out the rest of that story. I started to cast out my senses to find my oldest friends/rivals. I didn't have to look far though, because soon I was wrapped up in a huge bear hug by the very person I was looking for.

"Hey Hippo! How you been? Have you seen Pebbles anywhere?!" Being lifted from the ground by the Hippo made me lose my senses, but I heard the Boulder's arrogant voice right near me.

"Oh yeah, that prison was a lot of fun for the Boulder and the Hippo! At least it was fun during the breakout. Those poor guards knew they were screwed the moment they saw the Boulder in battle mode!" I rolled my eyes as Hippo set me down and I gave Boulder a knuckle punch. It was good to see old friends.

Soon after that, I went back to the clearing where everyone was collapsed, and I quietly set up an earth tent, and collapsed into a welcomed sleep. I knew tomorrow's reunion's would be hectic.


	30. Bumi and New Food

**I'm gonna post the next three chapters after this between now and tomorrow. But after that, I am at a mind block... and I'm leaving for Duke too! **

**Disclaimer: Don't sue.**

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Chapter 30: Bumi and New Food

**Aang's POV: **I was up before everyone again. The Monks taught us to wake up early instinctually. It was smart too, there was so much I could always get done before everyone woke up. I could have practiced an entire line-up of airbending forms before even the more morning people were up, or I could have spent a good amount of time meditating, or if I was feeling particularly lazy I would watch the sun rise.

Believe it or not, I was feeling really lazy today. I was really anxious to see the few troops I remembered from the Eclipse Invasion. I hoped they didn't all hate me for failing them.

For some reason I wanted everyone behind me when I met them again. Maybe it was because I was afraid they'd hate me.

I watched the sunrise for a little bit, but I was getting really antsy. After only about five minutes I ran and started trying to wake Sokka up. As my best guy friend, obviously I went to him first. I forgot that he wasn't exactly the morning type.

"Aang, I may be the Giver, but I'm not feeling very giving at this insanely early hour. Try to get me up one more time and I swear I will kill you; or ask one of the nighttime spirits to forever end early mornings. Your choice!" He grumbled through his pillow. He sounded really pissed at me, so I left him alone. It might partially be because of the bet I recently won against him.

Whatever the reason, I quickly stepped away from him and went back to Appa. Momo came to rest in my lap, and I absentmindedly petted him. I looked up to see Katara lying on Appa's bare back, looking as beautiful as ever.

I crawled up Appa's back and curled up right in front of her, so my face was right next to hers and I kissed her lightly on the forehead.

I hadn't expected her to react, but she groaned and shifted slightly, waking up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning." She grumbled happily, if happy grumbling was possible. I kissed her again on the forehead.

"Morning! C'mon, I gotta meet everyone, and I was hoping you could come with me…please!" I asked her sweetly.

She was suddenly very awake.

"Let's go! Do you want me to wake everyone up?" I was slightly surprised by her eagerness.

I looked around quietly; everyone looked so peaceful in their sleep, I just didn't want to wake them.

"Nah, let 'em sleep, we can greet the troops by ourselves." Katara grinned even more.

"Ok, but you have to promise to turn off your earth vision, ok?"

I looked at her curiously, but nodded when I saw her excited face. If she really wanted me to do this, I would. I would do anything for her.

I jumped off of Appa and quickly closed my senses from the ground. Katara slid down Appa's tail and jumped off, pulling me in one direction through the bushes, and up a tall hill.

When we neared the top, she had me close my eyes, and she wrapped her hands around my eyes to make sure I didn't peek.

"Spirits Katara! What's the big surprise!? I know that the troops from the old Invasion will be here, that's not really a reason for the build-up! Having them hide in the bushes so they can yell surprise is kinda pointless!"

She just giggled and pulled her hands away as I felt the ground straighten out at the top. I gaped as I opened my eyes to see way more people than I'd have ever guessed could fit on this tiny island. Everyone I have ever met who I'd befriended since I got out of that iceberg, and several people I hadn't met, but had identified as soldiers working for friends were huddled in the clearing below.

Katara giggled more as I scanned the crowd, recognizing person after person. Jeong- Jeong was there with Chey and the Deserters. Shyu was there too, talking with an Earth Kingdom General from Ba Sing Se. And that was the tail end of all the people I saw in the throng.

There were several giant animals there too. I saw a Badgermole, and had to wonder how he got here. I also saw that giant Shirshu, and Jun; the woman who tamed it, petting him. Next to the Shirshu was a giant drooling animal that I recognized all too well.

But why would Flopsy be here… unless…

I opened up my earth senses, and felt him almost immediately. There, in the middle of the huge crowd was my oldest friend.

I didn't wait for anything, I just started Wind Running to where I saw him; I didn't even stop before I attacked him in an excited hug. I heard him snort in laughter.

"Bumi! You're ok! You're here!" I paused, curious. "Why are you here?"

"Aang! Where did you come from? Didn't you hear? Ba Sing Se, and Omashu took back their cities during the Solar Eclipse, then we rushed over at the call of a hawk!"

I laughed. "I can't believe you're here!"

"You didn't think I was going to miss your big day, didja!?"

I laughed and hugged him again as I felt Katara come up and tap me on the shoulder.

"Aang, everyone's waking up, I need to go and make breakfast. You should come and talk to everyone so they can help spread the word of Sokka's new plan." Katara murmured to me. I nodded slowly.

"Oh young lady!" Bumi spoke to Katara. "A young blue boy came and gave a huge amount of rice to the troops, but it's all gone now. I don't think you'll find any food to make breakfast."

Katara moaned upsettedly, and I cheered inwardly.

"Here's some food you could use for the morning feast though. I'm sure your friends would like a variety."

Bumi handed Katara a wooden box. I peeked in to see a huge, delicious salad, several warm rolls, a type of butter sauce, and what looked like some kind of meat. I wrinkled my face at the meat, but grinned happily at the other food. Katara smiled, and I could tell that she was anxious to try and prepare the food in a unique and interesting way.

"Goodbye Aang, I will see you again very soon."

I waved and walked back to the flat where everyone was just waking up. Mai and Zuko was stretching, Sokka was up and moving Appa's strewn armor into a nice pile. Ty Lee and Teo were up. Ty Lee was brushing her hair, Teo was washing his face. Neither were looking at each other and I could see Teo's ears were bright red.

Toph was talking with Sokka while he cleaned up, and every now and then helped move a heavy piece of armor. Both cracked up when Sokka told Toph what was in Katara's box.

I need to thank them later. As much as I love rice, I'm really sick of it.

**Katara's POV:** I need to kill Sokka later. I had a new idea for rice, but I guess I can't try it now. That's okay though. I really wanted to scheme with my new food.

What I'd decided to do was turn the rolls into little bowls and fill them with the butter sauce, then I'd drizzle a little bit of the remaining butter sauce on the salad and cook the meat lightly and serve it on the side.

I knew I couldn't get Aang or Teo to eat the meat, but I hope they'd like the bread and salad.

It was quick to prepare and soon everyone was in a circle, eating and saying great things about the food.

Ty Lee did complain a bit about all the butter being bad for her skin, but I shrugged off the comment, seeing that she didn't mind eating it anyway.

I couldn't help but wonder why Ty Lee and Teo weren't sitting next to each other as always. Instead, Teo sat on Aang's left side. Since I was on his right, I subtly poked him and asked what was going on with those two with some discreet gestures. He just shrugged, and I dismissed the subject, by the end of the meal they were talking again.

Sokka ran off soon after Breakfast to go find Dad, and fill him in on the new plan. Toph went with him.

Teo went to go find his father, the Mechanist. Ty Lee went with him. They were both excited to show him that his son could walk, and could airbend. I hope he didn't pass out.

Zuko and Mai went to look for Iroh, and I grinned. Before I found Aang again this morning, I had passed Iroh. He was with a woman who looked strangely similar to Zuko. I had a good idea of who she was.

I went to find Dad too. I had missed him a lot over the past two months.


	31. The Plan

**Hey guys! Now we hear the final plan. Sokka still isn't any better with public speaking! Ha ha!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really STILL need justification to the obvious...?**

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Chapter 31: The Plan

**Ty Lee's POV: **I loved Teo's father's face when he saw his son walking. He almost passed out right then, but he was composed enough to stay conscious, until, of course, when he saw Teo airbending. That was when he actually passed out. I couldn't stop giggling as I helped wake him up.

Teo explained the whole thing, and I cut in at random times during the speech to add details. His father, who was known as the Mechanist, had his mouth gaping open most of the time, and I resisted the urge to pressure point his jaw shut.

He was a sweet man; I found this out after Teo finished the story and we set to talking. He had stories to tell about inventions he had started working on recreating, and how he got the materials to rebuild it. Several were quite funny.

The one annoying thing was the way he kept looking at Teo, then me, then Teo again, then back to me. I felt like I was under an examination. What was he looking at?

After the great conversation, Teo went to go find Aang to ask when he could learn the three Grand Mastery moves. I started to follow him, but the Mechanist said there was something he wanted to talk to me about.

"My son really cares about you. I can tell." I felt my cheeks get hot, and I shook my head to get the feeling to stop; it didn't.

"Of course, he's my best friend, I should hope he likes me!" I chuckled lightly.

"We both know that's not what I meant." He looked at me knowingly, and I stared, confusedly back. He blinked, and quickly changed the topic.

"Oh my! Look at the time, I still need to collaborate the timing devices on the new Earth Tanks. Good day Ty Lee! I'll see you soon."

And he just walked off, leaving me to stare incredibly confused back at his retreating figure. I decided to help Teo find Aang.

**Zuko's POV: **I looked through the masses of Earth Kingdom greens and Water Tribe blues. I was looking for the person who had always been like a father. Mai was coming with me, and barely keeping up.

It was easy to spot one of the few people in Fire Nation colors. There were maybe twenty Fire Nation men in the huge crowd, and none of the others looked anything like my Uncle. I ran over to him immediately, dragging Mai in the process. He wrapped me in a tight hug, partially crushing my ribs, but I didn't mind... it was a good kind of crushing.

When he finally let go, I stood up straight to see a woman in Fire Nation clothes looking at me. She was familiar in a strange way. Almost like a wisp of a memory from a forgotten dream. She was tall and slender, though she was muvh older than me, she barely showed it. Her fingers were long and dainty, and, had her fingernails been sharp instead of their rounded crescents, I would've said they reminded me of Azula's. The most striking thing about her, however, were her eyes. They were like pools of melted gold... just like mine. Time suddenly froze.

Mom.

I ran over to her and hugged her as hard as I could; I felt wetness on my cheek, and I couldn't tell whose it was, her tears, or my tears.

"Oh Zuko, look how you've grown!" She whispered as we hugged.

After an eternity, she pulled away and turned to look at me. I saw sadness in her eyes, but it was drowned in mirth.

"What happened to my little son?" She asked, tears behind her eyes.

"A lot!" And I hugged her again.

**Katara's POV:** I had found Dad a while ago. Hugging was exchanged, and there was catching up stories. The works.

I remember sometime during the reunion Sokka wandered off and I found Aang. As adorable and sweet as ever, he happily greeted Dad after I pulled out of the huge hug he wrapped me in. Dad looked at Aang, then at me, then I saw a sly grin quickly flash across his face.

"Aang, I'd like to talk to you for a moment if that's okay." Dad said to him. I was a little confused with Aang's sudden worried look. It wasn't till after Dad pulled Aang to a semi-secluded spot until I realized what he was talking to him about. I was starting to get panicked now; hopefully, Sokka didn't get his spazzy, overprotective instincts from Dad.

However, a minute later, Aang rushed back to me with a huge grin plastered on his face. Dad was smiling too.

"You should probably visit the troops, talk with them and socialize. Even have a reuinion with some familiar faces." Dad suggested to Aang. No one had to tell him twice as he grabbed me by the wrist and dashed off, yelling a quick good bye and thank you to Dad over his shoulder.

"It went well I guess?" I called to him. He grinned back at me.

"Better than I could've hoped!" I grinned at his remark.

Aang was eagerly greeting old friends, and was happily surprised to find Shyu among the throng. Shyu was the first firebender who wasn't with the Fire Lord. Only he had disappeared shortly after we met him. We learned that Zhao kidnapped him and threw him in a prison.

While we were talking to Shyu I remember overhearing a particularly loud conversation a few yards over.

"I don't mean to shoot down your brilliant idea of what you think sexy is, but GET RID OF THAT DAMNED MUSTACHE ALREADY! IT LOOKS LIKE A CATERPILLAR LEECH ATTACHED ITSELF TO YOUR FACE!" We laughed at Sokka's loud voice as just about everyone that could hear him silently agreed.

Reunions and hugs were in abundance for quite a while. Aang and I were overwhelmed at all the familiar faces.

Then Toph dragged me away to a stone table and some smooth rock blocks which could be used as chairs. A war meeting eventually had to be set up, so Toph asked me to help make chairs as she pointed to a small stream near me.

I did as many as we needed as quickly as possible, but it seemed to take forever.

Forever later, I finally complained enough that Toph let me get out of finishing the chairs so I could go and greet people.

"Fine, go play the little welcoming committee if you really have to! Just stop whining to me!" Is how she actually put it. No matter how pissed she was at me, I jumped at the opportunity.

I didn't actually get all the time I wanted though. After a few minutes I heard that a War Meeting was in order soon.

Now Sokka and Dad was calling all the Generals, and important people together for a meeting to discuss Sokka's plan. I saw Sokka eagerly talking to Piandao, who was apparently part of the Order of the White Lotus; an international anti-Fire Lord organization that Iroh leads. I was a little excited, and a lot curious. I hadn't heard the plan. Only Sokka and Zuko knew the entire thing. Toph knew a bit, but my excited brother swore her to secrecy.

Uh-oh. I just realized the flaw in this plan. Sokka is the only one knowing the plan, and he sucks at public speaking. I really hope the Comet doesn't come _before _everyone understands what he's trying to say.

I walked over to the stone table Toph made for us, and sat in between Dad and Aang. On Dad's other side was Sokka and then Toph. On Aang's other side, there was Zuko and Mai, then Teo and Ty Lee. I acknowledged each one with a hug, wave, nod of the head, or a kiss in Aang's case.

I couldn't stop a knowing smile from creeping onto my face when I nodded at Ty Lee and Teo. I couldn't think of anyone else in the world that would compliment either of them better than each other. They were like two pieces of a puzzle fit together. Now if only they would notice it. It was obvious that neither knew about it.

Several people filed into the stone and ice seats that Toph and I made… one at a time… for what seemed like forever!

I saw Dad elbow Sokka in the arm, and, after a nervous chuckle, I saw Sokka rub the back of his neck nervously, then stand up. I really hope his public speaking had improved.

**Aang's POV: **Sokka stood up in front of everyone to explain the plan. Everyone looked at him in anticipation, then I remembered the last speech Sokka made.

Oh crap!

He started talking, and the confusion started.

"So, uh… here's the plan folks! So… Aang, and Katara, and Zuko… cuz he's good now… Zuko that is… cuz Aang and Katara have always been good… Zuko's the Fire Prince by the way! And, they'll go, and… yeah, Katara, and the guards, for Aang; who'll find the Fire Lord… and Zuko will, yeah… with Azula… I mean no! Not like that! Just fight her, and…yeah, y'know. Then, in the field, Toph and I… yeah, I'll help the troops… cuz, I glow now, because… and she's the key! Yeah, I should probably explain that, but, you'll see later. Then Teo will help, cuz… he can airbend now! Because I glowed… then became a spirit and helped him, then… y'know…" We all gaped at him, he just continued.

"So, anyway, Aang'll teach him from a scroll… before the battle of course, so… the sun will move, with the moon… with Teo's air, even though technically it's everyone's air… he he. But for help, yeah… Ty Lee and Mai will… y'know… fight off the guys, and be, like, y'know those guards… except you don't… so, never mind. And he'll block the comet. So, we'll have another eclipse today, and… that'll be good for us, y'know? And… yeah, uh… behind us… there'll be helpers… y'know the water tribe women… cuz there was prejudice… in the North… but not anymore! No offence, at all! I just wanted to say… the women waterbenders… yeah they can help the troops… but not fight, cuz they never… um… actually learned… but that's ok! Cuz they'll still help! Yeah, so… go us!"

Sokka was twitching as everyone was silent, trying to piece together what little information we could from that word omelet. Suddenly, a perky voice spoke up.

"I get it! Great plan Sokka!" We all looked at Ty Lee curiously. She looked around at us. "Isn't it obvious?" She asked everyone, even though she turned to Teo, who just shook his head in response.

"Well, what he said was that Katara, Aang, and Zuko are going to take Appa to the palace ahead of us in stealth mode. Zuko will take down Azula while Aang and Katara go ahead to the Fire Lord. There will obviously be guards, so Katara will handle them to get Aang to Ozai quicker and easier. In the field, Teo will use airbending to stall the comet and create a second eclipse. He won't be able to protect himself while doing all that, so Mai and I will be covering him. During all this, Sokka will be power boosting the troops while we take the Capital; Toph staying close to him. Also, the women from the North Pole are healers, so they'll help any wounded soldiers, but they can't fight, so they'll be trailing behind."

As Ty Lee explained this to us, we gaped, this time at her mysterious ability to understand all that from Sokka's confusing speech. Ty Lee looked at our faces, and merely shrugged and sat down. Teo poked her arm and giggled admiringly at her, she giggled back.

We looked to Sokka for an affirmation, who opened his mouth, then clamped it shut and nodded embarrassedly.

"How do we get there without being caught; we have no submarines!" A stray voice asked. Toph cut in.

"That's my job. I'm gonna take us to the outskirts of town, just past the battlements with my earth pocket. It'll be harder, because I have to go under a body of water, but it's doable."

Everyone nodded and a hush fell over the troops. No one wanted to disturb the silence. I knew everyone was thinking the same thing; what if I don't come back.

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**The "I get it!" was an inside joke with my friend Julie, who was the only one to understand Toich's description of the 6th dimension. Yes, I know I'm wierd. **

**Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that everyone EXCEPT Ty Lee and Teo understand that they like each other... and I mean everyone!**

**I'm gonna get two more out by tomorrow, but after that, like I said before, I'll be at Duke, and will have less time to write and update.**

**I'm gonna say those dreaded words: please read and review guys! i used to get about five to six for every two or so chaps. Now I've gotten two to three collectively. C'mon guys! **


	32. What About the Third One?

**Oh my god! I could hug all you guys for your great reviews! I just came back from the Farmer's Market in town (which I always love) and I was upset when my little sister's whining about the mail truck ruined my mood; but now I'm all happy again! I got so many reviews! Thanks again; they made my day... along with the incredible homemade garlicky pesto on homemade baguette (I bet I spelled that wrong) I'm gonna post two or three more chapters today!**

**Disclaimer: Okay, seriously! Does anyone have their doubts that I am secretly Brian or Mike!?**

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Chapter 32: What about the Third One?

**Ty Lee's POV: **Teo dragged Aang and me away to a field right after the meeting. No… he literally dragged us with airbending. Aang could deflect the air, but I wasn't an airbender, so I was stuck in another air bubble.

Teo's gentle air bubble was different from the one I was trapped in when I was fighting Aang a while back when we battle at the Tea Shop in Tao Ra. Although I learned that he's the gentlest kid, it sure didn't seem that way when he had the death grip on me during battle. Teo's air bubble was wrapping around me calmly, I could feel it gently swirling around my body, lightly coaxing me forward.

It felt nice.

I was slightly disappointed when he let go, and blushing that I was even thinking this, but I when I saw his excitement at becoming a Grand Master, I perked up again, and giggled as I cart wheeled to them.

"The first trick, is learning how to disable an attacker's senses without hurting them. The principle is controlling the air to block sound waves from reaching their ears or using an invisible wind to render them blind." Aang demonstrated the complex move.

My eyes widened.

"So you were the reason behind the hearing loss at the Western Air Temple a while back! That incident had me freaked!" I said in realization. Teo's eyes widened too and he jabbed Aang in the stomach.

The Avatar winced and nodded. "Yeah, I probably deserve that… sorry guys! But please don't tell the others! Katara'll kill me!"

We looked at each other skeptically then winked and looked back.

"We'll keep quiet, but you seriously owe us!" Teo finally said. Aang laughed kind-heartedly before nodding.

"Kay, now you try it on Ty Lee and me."

He repeated the move a few times lightly, then breathed in and tried the intricate move.

Nothing happened, and I wondered if he hadn't done it right, Teo looked disappointed.

I went to comfort him, I tried to say it's okay, but I didn't hear my voice.

Instinctually, I clamped my hands over my ears before I broke out into a huge grin and poked him teasingly, and mouthed to Teo "Deaf! I'm deaf! You made me deaf!" That was what I'd said the first time. I started giggling madly for no apparent reason and Teo cracked up too. Just like before, Teo hugged me, but this time it was in excitement instead of in comfort. I squeezed him back, grinning ecstatically. He broke away and looked at me evilly; I gave him a curious look before he came up to me and started tickling me. Very few people know that I'm impossibly ticklish, and I like to keep it a secret, but somehow, he knew. He knows everything about me.

Through my giggling and silent and halfhearted begging him to stop I saw Aang come up and mouth "Now drop it." It was funny; I had forgotten he was there.

"Ok." Aang spoke up and I embarrassedly got off the ground and brushed myself off. "Now I'm gonna teach you the Cosmic Switch. You're gonna make a wind whip sort of thing, and you're gonna kind of lasso the sun, or drag the moon around. It takes a lot of conversation; you can hold it in place for as long as you have concentration and the energy. That's why you can't be fighting during the battle."

Teo threw his right arm around in a circle, and a spinning air whip, funnel thing appeared in his hand.

"Now just lasso the sun, and pull it across the sky. Preferably backwards… it'll give us five minutes more before the Invasion." He said it in a joking manner, but I saw a serious, afraid wave clouding his aura.

Teo did what he was told to do, Aang coaching him all the way. I gaped, squinting as I saw the blinding sun scotching backwards, towards the eastern sky. Teo saw my flabbergasted expression and cracked up, dropping the sun in the process. I laughed too.

"Ha ha ha… your face… ha ha… so funny! Ha ha ha!" I glared at him, but he moved the sun, and he was my best friend, so I couldn't be angry at him for more than a second. I dissolved into giggles too.

We turned to see Aang walking away and rolling up the scroll. Teo and I looked at each other. He looked as confused as I felt. I knew for a fact that there were three moves to Grand Mastery.

"Where're you going?" Teo asked Aang.

"To get the pendent I carved for you. I worked hard on it, and I didn't even use the woodbending Katara taught me!"

"But there's one more move left!" I protested curiously. I suddenly saw Aang's face darken considerably before he answered. I'm sure Teo noticed too.

"There's no need for you to learn that move." He said before turning around and leaving. I followed him with my eyes to Appa, where he put the scroll in a green bag. I memorized which bag it was in then turned back to Teo with a curious face on. He shrugged as to let it go, but his eyes gave away that he was insanely curious too.

Aang came back with the pendent. It was exquisite!

It was a strand of wooden beads. There were three pendants near the center. One was in the direct middle, the other two, smaller ones were on the sides. The middle one had the three spiral symbol of the Air Nomads and a little dangling bead with bison fur attached to it. The two on the sides were a single spiral in a circle, but in the middle of the circle was a square. A square in a circle was the Earth Kingdom insignia.

Aang insisted that I help put it on, because I was his teacher too. My chest swelled with pride as I put it on him. Teo bowed to Aang before turning to me and enveloping me in a huge hug. I hugged him back and whispered a "Congrats!" to him.

When I heard Aang walk off I checked to make sure he was out of hearing distance, then turned to Teo and whispered to him "I saw where Aang hid the scroll, how about tonight I can grab it, and we can sneak off and you can learn the final move?"

We pulled away and I saw that Teo's cheeks were red as he looked at him feet and nodded quickly, saying "Ok! That sounds great Ty Lee!"

The fact of what I'd said hit me and I looked down too. Did I just ask my best friend to sneak off somewhere with me tonight!?

Thoughts of me and Teo sneaking off under a starry sky sneaked into my head.

Wait a minute! I sat straight upright as I tried to shove the invading image out of my majorly messed up mind. Where in the world did that stray thought come into my head! He's my best friend, and nothing more; right?

The topic haunted my mind until late at night. Did I think of him as more than a friend? It would definately explain the increased amount of blushing. Once everyone had gone to sleep, I shoved the awkward thoughts out of my head and forced myself to focus on getting the scroll.

I jumped and sprang over Aang onto Appa where the bags are and found the green one. After fishing around the bag for a bit, I found the ancient, decrepit scroll. I flipped off of the huge, arrowed, living pillow.

Teo waited for me in the field, he was wearing tan sleeping pants, and his new pendant, but no shirt. Why do all guys not wear shirts to sleep!? Do they just want to display their chests to the world every chance they get!? Well, I had to admit... it was a nice chest.

Grrr! I rubbed my temple and forced myself to focus.

I handed the paper to him and tried to control the heat in my cheeks. I forced myself not to look at the ground.

I saw him read the scroll and an expression of what looked to be confusion, surprise, and a hint of fear ghost over his eyes. He handed it to me and I read it too, my face must've mirrored what Teo's just looked like. It was an airbending move to kill someone.

"You don't have to learn it Teo. Aang said it wasn't necessary. He might not even have learned it himself." Part of me didn't want Teo to know how to kill a person. The energy an aura gives off if it has ever killed someone is scary. Azula's was terrifying; especially since she enjoyed it.

"No, I'll learn it… what, with the final battle coming, I need to be ready. But, I'll never use it."

He said it with a quiet conviction and I was sure he's the bravest person in the world right now.

He read through it again before creating a quick little gesture where he started by holding his hands like a cook with cutting knives. Then he flips his hands so his palms are on the outside and jerks his hands outward.

He did the move several more times before he stopped and looked down. He needed to practice it at least once to know the move would work.

"You can try it on me as long as you stop when I get out of breath." I said helpfully, trying to keep my voice light. He stepped away from me as soon as I said it and shook his head fast, hiding his hands behind his head.

"No way! I'm not gonna risk it! You're my best friend!" I pretty much glowed at the last thing he said.

"You're my best friend too, and I can be just as stubborn as you! Which is why I'm demanding that you try it once."

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it and hung his head.

"Fine."

"I'll touch my neck when I'm sure you did it, that's when you stop. Kay?"

"Ok." He sounded glum.

**Teo's POV: **I didn't want to, but she forced me to try it once. I was going to hate to see her pretty face in complete shock when she finds she can't breathe.

Please don't make me mess up!

I did my own little gesture and left my hands there and waited as nothing happened. Maybe I had done it wrong.

Then Ty Lee's eyes widened and she touched her long, thin fingers to her neck in surprise and shock.

In terror, I dropped my hands and took several involuntary steps away from her. Her petrified face has forever imprinted in my brain as a horribe scar. I just stared at my hand in horror and fear of what I could do.

**Ty Lee's POV: **He hadn't waited a second after I gave him the signal before he cut it off. As I took a short breath I watched him step away from me and look down at his hands. His legs collapsed under him and tears started to fall onto the ground.

Fear poured off of him in waves; it was so thick it was almost tangible. All I could do was run over to him and wrap my arms around him as I tried to squeeze all the hurt out of him. I could barely hear the scared whisper he repeated over and over.

"I don't wanna be a murderer! I don't wanna be a murderer!"

We rocked back and forth as he cried into my shoulder. I just hugged him and let him cry, my heart went out to him. I had never met anyone so brave.

What has this war done to everyone?

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**I need to lighten the mood now! Umm... Go Homemade Pesto on Baguette! (No, seriously, you gotta try it!)**


	33. Lightning

**Disclaimer: gets note Hmm, it says "Dear Kenwoody, we give you full rights to Avatar --Brian and Mike" OH MY GOD! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! turns it over "PS, April Fools! Ha ha!" WHAT!? IT"S NOT EVEN APRIL! Sigh, i shuda seen that one coming. **

**(Dude! It'd be hilarious if Brian and Mike actually went around doing that!)**

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Chapter 33: Lightning

**Zuko's POV: **I can't believe he did it in so little time, but he did. Of course, he has done this a million times before; but still…

This was his last lesson. I was about to teach the Avatar the last two tricks I knew, and it was just in time, the comet comes in three days.

I was slightly impatient for him to get here so I could teach him what I needed to teach him. I was eager to get back to Mai, Uncle, and my Mom.

Mom.

I had missed her so much these past six years, I couldn't believe what had happened to her.

She had told me that for the first two years of her banishment, she traveled around the Earth Kingdom; for a few months out of those years she traveled with some Nomads named Chong, Lilly, and Moku.

After that she said that she had settled down at the Eastern Air Temple until a strange man came and she left.

Then she was taken in by the Order of the White Lotus, and soon reunited with Uncle.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Aang ran up to me looking exhausted. I knew for a fact that every soldier and old friend of his wanted to practice some kind of bending with him.

Katara, Toph, and I have also been bombarded with benders looking for a lesson. I was surprised that there was a small troop's worth of firebenders here too. The firebenders were vastly outnumbered by the other nations, but there were about thirty firebenders here. Sokka has also been attacked with nonbenders looking to get ready, although Sokka really just wanted a rematch with Piandao, he grudgingly accepted every invitation to a duel.

I waited for the monk to catch his breath before I took a stance and started the lesson.

**Aang's POV: **I just came from a quick earthbending match with Bumi, a waterbending match with Pakku, a healing lesson from Yugoda, and an international battle with Katara, Toph, Teo, and Iroh. I was thoroughly exhausted.

There was only so much I could practice, but I knew firebending had to come before resting; as much as I didn't want it to.

"What am I gonna learn today Zuko?" I asked when I'd finally caught my breath.

He took a stance. "Lighting." I stiffened in exitement and slight worry. I thought about my back.

"Are you sure I'm ready!?" I asked nervously. I thought I had more to do!

"I've taught you everything I know minus the two tricks I'm gonna show you today. You are definitely ready."

I smiled. All I had left was two tricks. After those two tricks, I'd be a fully realized Avatar. I nodded to him and he reset his stance and breathed in before demonstrating a perfect bolt of lightning that ripped over the cliff and cut through the silence above the surrounding ocean.

"Remember, to create lightning, you need to sift through both negative and positive energies; rifting them apart to create an imbalance. You're gonna gently guide the energies back together. When they crash back together in attempts to balance themselves out, you guide the energy and make lightning. You never control it, you merely guide it."

I nod again. I get into the same stance Zuko was in and I start to search for the energies. Almost immediately they reveal themselves to me and I start to drag them apart. It was difficult because they kept tugging on me so they could come back together, but I didn't let them join.

I finally finished my arc and let the two opposing forces collide, but now that they were finally getting what they wanted, they wouldn't move together.

"C'mon!" I heard myself grunt. "You can learn to coexist peacefully! Just give it a shot!" I don't know where that came from, but I heard the energies crashed together, and electricity jumped from my fingertips, crackling out into the expanse of the horizon. I did it.

Zuko nodded at me in an approving manner. They say that the hardest thing for the teacher to learn is always the one the student is most proud of. I felt like a winning example of that statement, knowing full well that until recently, Zuko hadn't been able to make lightning.

"Now, just as easily as you can throw lightning at someone, someone can throw lightning at you. I'm going to show you how to redirect lightning. It's a lot like how waterbenders style their bending to turn an opponent's attack to their advantage. You're gonna let the lightning flow down your arms to your stomach, then back out your other arm. Just make sure to take the stomach detour because you might become kind of dead if the lightning runs through your heart. Here's a physical move you would probably want to try."

Zuko demonstrated a Waterbending- type move. I just watched him do it for a few times, then I joined in. We just did the same move for a few minutes before Zuko spoke up.

"I want to see you do that three hundred more times. You really only need theoretical knowledge of this, so run over it for a few more hours until you're positive you could do this in your sleep. Then I can proudly tell you that you are a Grand Master of Firebending!"

I was excited at the prospect of being a fully realized Avatar in two more hours. Then I thought about two more hours of just doing the same gesture, over, and over, and over…

This was gonna be a long two hours!

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**Poor Aang... hours upon hours of just doing that same god forsaken hand gesture! And you know how impatient he gets... **


	34. What if I Don't Come Back?

**Hey people! Next chap. is up... sorry, not the final battle.**

**Hey, Mr. Average! I have to say, you made an interesting argument about Haru's mustache, allthough, I still have to say it doesn't fit him that well. And no, I doubt that the Mechanist's eyebrows will ever grow back. Finally, I'm gonna take "wierdo" as a compliment. Wierd is good, strange is bad. Ha ha!**

**Anyway, this chapter is everyone's thoughts about the upcoming battle (tomorrow). I got all eight people in the major Gaang, plus a random soldier so you guys can get a look at how just a random person would feel. It's kind of interesting how these people who're no one of consequence are like unknown heroes. **

**Disclaimer: I own a pen with a moose on it.**

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Chapter 34: What if I Don't Come Back?

**Toph's POV: **Two days ago Aang and Zuko made Teo and Sokka dress up in some fancy Earth Kingdom dresses and makeup and have them walk around the troops. I think those were the dresses Katara and I had to wear when we crashed the Earth King's party. It was their punishment for losing the bet. The entire island shook with laughter that day. Now it is silent in fearful anticipation.

Tomorrow is the Final Battle. If we lose again, we've lost the war.

Everyone can't help but think; what if I don't come back?

The first thing that comes to mind is Sokka, and all of the new friends I have made over the last six months. I think of how much I'd miss them, and I'd imagine them all standing around my funeral as I am given back to the earth that bore me; a traditional Earth Kingdom Burial.

Then I'd think of my parents, and how they would cry as they stood over my body. For the past week, I've had Katara read me their letter so much that I memorized it.

_Dear Toph,_

_I guess we'll just have to have faith that this was actually written by you, instead of a captor. I don't think you give us enough credit for what we do as parents. It is hard for every parent to see their child grow, then eventually leave; but it was near impossible for us because of our terror at your blindness. We know you are an incredible earthbender, but power does not make you invincible. _

_When you left, the terror in our hearts brought us to the only conclusion we could fully grasp, which was that you were kidnapped. We understand now that if you didn't want to go, they probably wouldn't… and couldn't make you._

_I do think we deserve more credit though. When you do become a parent, you will see your children as a part of you; and a part that is near impossible to give up. Because of your blindness, we assumed that we wouldn't have to ever let you go. Because of that assumption, you, in fact, left sooner than most._

_We are proud of your achievements, but we will always worry. We know about how you plan to invade before Sozin's centennial comet comes back, and I know you won't want to not fight; but if your birthright of being our child means anything to you; if our word means anything to you… then please be careful so you can come back. You are so young, and there was so much that we wanted to watch you experience, even if we wanted to child proof it for you. Just… please come back._

_--Sir and Lady Beifong (__Your Parents)_

When Katara first read it, I started to cry. There were so many things I hadn't done. It was partly their fault that I hadn't done a lot of it, but I wanted to experience it all; with, and without them. I still loved them, and they were still half of my family. The scary thing is, that the other half of my family might die with me tomorrow.

**Aang's POV: **When I first stepped out of that iceberg, I thought that I would go penguin sledding with the beautiful girl above me, I'd show her my home, introduce her to Gyatso, take her for a ride on Appa, and continue on with a carefree life.

Now I have to kill someone tomorrow for the sake of the world.

We were taught never to harm a thing if we could help it by the monks, and I have always lived on those morals. I don't even eat meat (which I am constantly being teased about) I feel dirty for having to go against my beliefs to intensely.

Then I think about what would happen if I don't do this. Who would his soldiers go after next? I would be responsible for whoever would get injured, or killed next. I have close friends all around the world, and I couldn't imagine any one of them getting hurt.

What if it was Sokka? Or Toph? Or Zuko? Or Mai? Or Teo? Or Ty Lee? Or worst; Katara?

I couldn't forgive myself if my inability and fear to act ends up killing my friends. The world is depending on me, but most importantly; she is depending on me. I still clearly remember the panic reflected in her eyes in my nightmare, I wouldn't be able to bear it if I saw them in real life.

She had been hurt so badly by the Fire Nation, and yet she still stands tall and proud. She is still ready to fight to the death.

So I have to too.

There's only one guilty thing I can't bear to think about, yet it still repeats in my head over, and over, and over. The one selfish phrase that has haunted my fears for the past several weeks of the countdown…

What if I don't come back?

**Sokka's POV: **I'm positive everyone is thinking it, because an impending feeling of worry is running down every soldier's spine.

I wonder what would happen if I did die.

The idea is easier to sit with now that I know that I told Toph. But I'm still scared about the possibility of that happening. I wonder how Katara and Dad would take it. When I was in the prison, I heard that Katara cried every night. Aang was fairly depressed, but also driven. I haven't stopped hearing about what happened to Toph.

If there's one thing I'd like to tell them if I do die; don't just stop living. I may be the Giver, and I may be close to several people, but I want them to move on with their lives if I do go. I wouldn't forgive my dead self if Toph fell back into her depression if I died.

What if…

I didn't even want to think of what would happen if Toph died. According to the Spirits, and to me, she's my other half. I've never loved anyone more than her. Not Yue, not Suki… She is what makes me special, she's what fills my life.

I would be dead if she didn't come back from battle.

**Mai's POV: **There's one major thing that makes me different from the troops. One unique odd quirk that no one else seems to agree with. I'm not afraid to die.

I've emotionlessly walked through every battle I've fought with Azula, and I've fought with a drive I didn't realize existed when we went to save Sokka. Never once had I thought about death.

It's always been there, surrounding Azula, and daunting Ty Lee and me, who always seemed to stand behind her. I suppose it always seemed surreal to me. I had never experienced it at a close and personal level. Now I see all these people who have families, friends, and they are terrified at the prospect of never seeing them again.

Part of me wants to feel fear and worry so I can understand how everyone fears for their lives.

I never said I was without fear; just without fear for myself. When I see Zuko I feel something inside me which resembles dread and terror. He's the one I fear for.

**Katara's POV: **I've been here since the beginning, and I'm about to see it through to the end.

I look at every worried soldier and my heart breaks for each one. Each one has a family and friends who are waiting for them to come home. Each one is so brave and strong, and, because of this war, the life that they deserve may be stolen from them.

And those are just anonymous soldiers that I'm crying for. I can't imagine if one of my friends didn't come out of this. I've come to consider the eight of us a family. Appa can even carry the weight of the eight of us without trouble now. He's gotten stronger. We're family, and, even though somewhere, my brain knows that we'll eventually have to separate, my conscious mind wants this to last forever. And I refuse this separation to be over death.

I don't know. I may just be being silly and childish. I can't stop death and I'm not gonna try.

I wish we could just wave a hand and the world would just repair itself and no one had to die. I wish life could be easy and we wouldn't have to worry about a war. As much as I know I'd be deluding myself, I wish life could be as easy as I told Toph it would be all that long time ago.

"_Yeah, I missed you guys too. But, it's so hard to deal! Will it ever get easy?"_

"_Will what ever get easy?"I asked confused._

"_Life."_

"_What do you want me to say?"_

"_Lie to me."_

"_Yes, as soon as we get Sokka back and defeat the Fire Lord, we will free every one, and the world will automatically go back to a time of peace and happiness. And love will sort itself out for everyone, so everyone is happy with a soul mate. And If there are any bad people left in the world, which there won't be… we will easily be able to tell that they are evil because of their enormous sideburns and long nails, and pointy teeth, and Aang will be able to stop them with merely a flick of the wrist, and no one ever dies, and there will never be anymore downsides to life ever again!"_

_She gave me one of her old smiles. "Liar!"_

It seemed like forever ago. Now I wish I could make my utopic lie the truth. How many people will die? How many lives would be ruined? How many soldiers will go home forever scarred? How many prisoners will never heal? How long would it take for the world to heal?

Would I be able to handle it?

Would I even be able to survive?

**Teo's POV: **I just figured out that I liked her, and I might not live to tell her. I only have today and the beginning of tomorrow to figure out how to tell her.

She's been there for me for the past… I don't even know how long! When I was at the Northern Air Temple, people respected me for my gliding talents, but kids shied away from me. They were uncomfortable because they could walk and I was in a wheelchair.

Then Aang came and I finally made some real friends who were actually my age. But they only stayed for a few days. They left almost immediately after the Battle of the Gliders. And I was alone again.

Then I temporarily joined the group, but I could tell Haru and the Duke felt awkward because of the wheelchair. She became my first constant. She liked me with, and without the wheelchair. We became friends, we became inseparable. Then I completely and irrevocably fell for her.

I had to pretend that we were only friends and I blushed when she saw me shirtless while I was getting my tattoos. I couldn't tell if her blush meant that she was embarrassed that she saw her friend shirtless, or if she liked me too.

No matter which one it is, I had to tell her. I wasn't going to clam up and shut up forever while I see yet more people flirt with her. In just the four days we've been here, at least twenty teenaged soldiers have tried flirting with her. I felt my blood boil as I watched her innocently shrug them off and then she would come up to me looking flustered. I'd then have to pretend I wasn't upset that they were trying to pick her up when, in actuality, I wanted to rip each of them apart limb by limb for talking with her.

Now this is it. I might not come back, and she might not come back, as much as I shudder to think about the prospect. I don't know where I'd be without her. I don't know how I lived without her before she came into my life.

I don't even want to think about the possibility of either of us dying. I know that we're both necessary parts of the plan, therefore, we might as well just wear a giant target to the battle that is labeled "shoot here." But we can't die. We just can't.

**Zuko's POV: **I argued with Sokka over the plan for hours but he wouldn't back me up this time. No one would. I don't want Mai fighting, no matter how good she is. I don't want her fighting at all, and Sokka wants to put her in a position where she would be wearing a much more deadly version of a "kick me" sign.

I can bet that Sokka is feeling that way about Toph, and Aang is feeling that way about Katara, but I don't know how they remain composed.

If I could do anything to stop her from going to the battle, I would do it immediately. I would go though great lengths to keep her safe. I'd swim across the ocean in between the two poles without stopping once if it would keep her from going to battle. I'd jump into a volcano if I would know that she was safe. I'd fight the entire army and all those Dai Li, and fight my sister and Father at the same time, while fighting the entire Royal Guard…

If only it would protect her.

**Ty Lee's POV: **I just figured out that I like him. It's why I've been blushing way too much these past few weeks, and it's what that annoying little voice was trying to tell me for all this time. I can't believe I didn't understand that sooner.

Now, tomorrow, we're all going off to either be slaughtered, or to slaughter. If I don't come back, he'll never know.

I had grown up with a "Buy one, get six free" label, so I jumped at the chance for making friends of my own when I was sent to that Fire Nation private school. Too bad I made friends with a power hungry psychopath.

When both Zuko and Mai switched sides, I was shocked. But it did help me realize the corruption of my Nation.

The first few days, I was basically ignored and glared at. Mai talked with me, but it was a fairly awkward conversation, and I could tell that both Zuko and Mai were wondering if I was playing as a double agent.

He was the first one who was genuinely nice to me, so, yet again, I jumped at the opportunity. This time, I didn't screw up. We had such similar auras that I almost couldn't tell the difference. We complimented each other perfectly, and I knew he'd soon be my best friend.

I hadn't bargained on falling for him.

And I'm not planning on losing him. I'm happy that I was given the job of protecting him, even though I would've done it anyway. I'm gonna fight like hell tomorrow to make sure that I don't lose the one person who means the most to me in the entire world, even if I have to kill the entire Fire Nation army to do it.

**Dato's POV: **I'm no one special. I'm not the Avatar or any of his friends. I'm not a General, or even an Admiral. I'm just your run of the mill soldier. So if I die tomorrow, nothing will happen. There won't be a ceremony, there won't be any statues, or memorials. No one will remember the name Dato.

I remember that when I left home, I promised my children I'd come back before they knew it. That was five years ago. When I came back I promised that I'd play Block the Rock with them all they wanted.

I beg to the Spirits that I don't have to break that promise.

On that sad day, I remember that I kissed my wife, and told her how I'd think about her every day, and dream about her every night. I've kept that promise. The tears in my heart are a proof of that fact.

I'm fighting for her. I'm fighting for my beautiful Nara. I still have the letter that she wrote me. I put it in a pocket in my armor that sits right near my heart.

Now there is a war necklace above that letter. It has my name written on it, and the town where I live, so all of my possessions, and my body can be brought back to my wife and children so I can be given back to the earth.

I don't want to die. I want to see my son, Tung again, who should be turning eleven years old soon. And I want to see my six year old Mya. And, of course, I want to live to kiss my beautiful Nara again.

I want to see my children grow up, and I want to be there when they fall in love, and I want to watch them get married, and I want to grow old with my gorgeous wife... and I want to see my brother again.

After the war is over, I'm going to visit my brother. It doesn't matter if I have to cross the whole Earth Kingdom, but I want to visit my twin brother. He hurt his leg in war and couldn't fight anymore, so he came home. I partially envied him for that; though I don't know if he'll be able to walk well again.

He's still my other half, and I've missed him those eight years we've been apart. I can't wait to see him. He'll get a laugh out of all the goofy things that have happened here, such as those two boys dressing up in dresses and makeup. And I'll tell him about the Fire Nation capital, and how it felt to be there. Just so long as I can tell him something.

Just please! I beg every Spirit there is. If they are watching down on this earth, please have them watch over me, and protect me.

Please; let me come back.

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**I wanted to make this a bit of a tear jerker episode... how'd I do? **

**I'm not gonna say it...**

**I'm not gonna say it...**

**I'm not gonna say it...**

**Ok, I'm saying it... please review, for this chapter especially. I want to know how I did.**


	35. The Final Battle

**Hey people, sorry for making you wait so long, I had a hard time setting up the internet connection at Duke. But, here is the final battle! Note, this is not the last chap. there are two more after this; chapter 36, and an epilogue. I'll warn you, a character comes back for the final battle, and one dies in the battle. **

**Disclaimer:** **Not even gonna say it!**

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Chapter 35: The Final Battle

**Teo's POV: **We all had to wake up insanely early to get ready for the battle. This wasn't just natural early wakeyness that all Airbenders are mysteriously good at; this was before-the-sun-even-begins-to-come-up, the-early-swamp-bird is-still-dead-asleep early wakeyness. This early wakeyness wasn't fun.

Aang and Toph needed to take the troops to behind the Plaza tower in small groups of twenty five, because apparently, large earth pockets are really hard to move. All the troops made groups of twenty five, usually by battalion.

I made sure Ty Lee and I were in the same group, and we got to go near the end. I still needed to talk to her. But I couldn't get it out here. I could kick myself for not being able to say anything. I settled on just goofing off and joking around with her; trying not to notice how many hormonal teenager soldiers had managed to squeeze into our group.

By the time Toph and Aang were at the last few groups, the sun was up, and it was nearly about nine hours past the middle of the night. My Father would call it nine o' candle. We still had to take over the Plaza Tower, but we were behind it, and there was a back door so no one would imagine us coming. About an eighth of the troops would be going in there. We wouldn't. We were going to be fighting at the Capital. Basically, we were launching ourselves into Kill-Me Central. We watched Katara, Aang, and Zuko disappear into the clouds on Appa, then we started the walk up to the Royal City.

I turned to Ty Lee during the walk, all the previous jokes gone from my mind. Now, I had to tell her. This was my last chance.

"Uh… Ty Lee, there's something I need to tell you, before the battle starts. I…" I was cut off with her putting two of her fingers to my lips to silence them. The serious, upset expression she wore was a stranger on her usually carefree face.

"No Teo! I don't want to hear it…" I looked at her upset and confused. She continued. "I don't want to hear it now. Tell me after the battle, when we win. Anything you say now will just sound like good bye!"

A lone tear slipped down her perfect cheek, and my heart broke. I gently wiped it away with the back of my finger and rubbed her back soothingly. After a moment, we silently grasped hands and continued walking into the inferno.

**Zuko's POV: **A this moment, we were now being hidden by clouds that Aang and Katara are bending around us. I had this feeling that we were getting close to the Palace. Of all the incredible benders in the troops, they asked me to handle Azula. Sure, I had done it before, but I was inwardly freaked for my life. And even if I did knock her out, she was a quick healer and had an insane stamina. I tire easier than her. Even if I managed to tire her, she'd quickly compose herself and be ready for another fight long before I'd be.

And even if we won, she has this charisma, she'd be able to rally a rebellion in no time, while the world was still recovering. There was no way…

Oh no!

No!

No!

No!

They want me to kill her. She may be an insane killing bitch who needs to be taken down, but why did it have to be me?!

Can I kill my sister?

"Zuko, we're here!"

**Sokka's POV: **Dad, Toph, and I were leading the troops. Once again, the top of the hill was easily seen. I quickly turned back to the Plaza Tower and saw a few explosions and screams. My heart went out to those brave soldiers. I looked to the top to see a Fire Nation general being knocked out of the top window. I winced. As soon as we were seen on the top of the town, fighting would begin.

Teo, Ty Lee, and Mai were going to a park-like thing, because Teo needs a clear view of the sun, and a basic knowledge of the position of the moon. Toph and I would stay close together and would be running through the streets like the soldiers. I would be glowing, but I can also use my sword now.

Five more yards.

Four more.

Three more.

Two more.

Just one more.

Gasps were heard from Mother's, and doors were slammed by civilians being dragged into houses. Fire Nation guards and soldiers began seeping from every house, every corner. Our soldiers began to pour over the edges of the city.

I ran up and cut off the spearhead on a guard's spear, then sliced the rod in half.

The battle started.

**Aang's POV: **Zuko told me exactly where to find his Father. He'd be in the Throne Room. Katara and I took off one way to go find him, Zuko took off the other way. I can feel a large room in the Center of the Palace, there is a line of eight guards there, and one single grown man behind them. It had to be Ozai.

There were a few twists and turns that Katara and I would have to make, but then we'd be right at the door to the Throne room. Theoretically, this part would be very easy.

But things are never that easy for us. I felt about thirty guards running towards us, and this was why Katara was here.

"Katara, there're thirty guards coming up a hallway to our left. Be careful!" She nodded and ran ahead of me, her six water pouches bouncing slightly. The first four were the battle water belt that she got before the Day of Black Sun. The other two was her original one, and the one she got from Toph.

As soon as they came up she attacked without warning, throwing a low water whip to the back of their knees, tripping the first eight that came through the hallway. Using as little water as possible, she bound their hands and legs then continued to start fighting the others.

I knew that I had to go now, while she was holding them off but my feet were frozen to the ground.

"Aang, go now!" She yelled to me.

"Promise you won't get hurt!" It was as much a question as it was a plea.

"Well I'm not planning on it! But I can't promise a thing. Go now!" Against my will, my legs started moving again, and I was leaving my love to a palace of carefully trained guards.

**Zuko's POV: **Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot. Keep moving. Where would Azula be?

Hmm… She doesn't know about the Invasion Plans, so she wouldn't hear about the attack until it was already under way. She'd probably be on her daily routine, until she got the news. The royal messenger boy is really slow, and the attack shulda started a few minutes ago. She should still be on her routine in the Palace. Right now she'd be…

…in the Fire Duel Arena; practicing her bending.

Last time I was in that Arena, my father forever burned and banished me. That place holds many bad memories for me. I think I'm about to make a few more. I turned my direction and ran back for the Fire Duel Arena.

My feet stopped at the door. I paused for just a second to catch my breath before I glanced at the exquisite door knob, breathed out, then grabbed it, and opened the door.

There was my sister, she was out of her usual armor and was in a light training dress with skinny pants underneath. She turned to me, and a malicious smile rose up her face. To anyone else, this smirk would have sent shivers down their spine, but I had grown up with her, and was used to her coldness.

"Brother…" She lengthened every syllable in a patronizing way, like an animal cornering it's prey. When you think about it, that's all she really is. An animal, eating off of others for the power and domination, living for the next fight.

"Azula! I challenge you to an Agni Kai!" My voice was pounding in my ears.

"To the death." She grinned yet again as I slowly nodded in wary agreement.

I stepped up to the long stage-like platform and took my spot at one end of the Arena. My hands raised in a wary stance.

**Toph's POV: **I felt all of our troops pour over the edges of the mountain like a huge wave, unbreakable and strong. We trickled into the streets, reaching into every alley and every side street. The enemy forces came to meet us like the slow and defensive flow of volcanic lava.

The Wave and the Magma crashed together, and the steam of the battle erupted.

Together, Sokka and I fought back to back. I punched and threw, and turned over pillars and mountains, and shards, and daggers of rock. They surrounded us and we surrounded them. I slammed the ground and cobblestones flew up wherever I felt a soldier in the quick vicinity. I didn't have a wide range though, I had to avoid hitting any of our guys.

Behind me I heard Sokka's sword clash with the steel of another, and the slice as the meteorite easily cut through the metal of the sword.

I hadn't noticed a large guard come up behind me and grab me, lifting me off the ground. In panic I went to my right arm and grabbed my meteorite bracelet and formed it into a dagger, and shoved it fiercely into my attacker's arm. He cried out in pain and dropped me. Before he could got over it I was on the ground, the meteorite was back on my arm as a bracelet, and I threw him into the air with a large pillar.

I felt us being ever so slightly overpowered. The guards had a slight advantage over us. I just kept knocking over guard after guard. Soldier after soldier. I felt Sokka come up to fight next to me.

"So, should I turn into Mr. Light Bright now?" He asked me. I gave him a look before answering.

"Sure, y'know, if it's convenient for you." I sarcastically remarked. He knocked out a soldier with the broad side of his sword before I felt him stick his tongue out at me, then I felt his body start to pulse a bit before he lifted his sword again and kept fighting. Our other benders throughout our troops began pulsing too, but not as strong as Sokka.

"Oh! My shining star!" I said in a joking, high, helpless ditz voice. I heard him snort.

"Oh yeah!" He replied. Uh oh! I had let his ego swell too big. I knocked down another five guards, including the one he was up against. Once again, my power was at a pinnacle, though there were more people to fuel now, so it wasn't as strong as in practices when he had focused on only powering up me.

"I wonder how the other guys are doing…" I said. I felt Sokka shrug, then knock out another few soldiers.

**Ty Lee's POV: **Finally Mai was with us too, so now Teo can begin. We had all promised to meet in the park. Teo and I had gone together, but Mai was a bit farther up. We stood on either side of Teo as we watched him call up two wind tunnels to drag the sun, and the moon together. He had to keep incredible concentration. Slowly, while I was knocking out guard after guard I saw the shadows on the ground change. I spared one second to see the sun and the moon, barely visible coming together in the sky, and Teo starting to sweat.

That one moment was all I got, then I had to get my head back into the game. Mechanically I sprung into the air and jumped in between several guards who had their firebending targets set on Teo. In seconds flat each was on the ground. Mai was incredible. She threw dagger after dagger after dagger. There was no stopping that girl.

I felt sky get much darker, and I looked up. There was the eclipse. Teo let go of the funnels and created a shield now with one hand to hold the eclipse in place. With the other hand, he had another shield ready, this one, he shoved up into space, to where the comet should be coming soon.

**Katara's POV: **I had lost sight of Aang a few minutes ago. He disappeared behind those huge, sound proof doors. I was plenty busy with the multiplying amounts of guards coming at me. Somehow, all the guards in the palace instinctively knew to come to the Throne Room, and I was left to deal with them all. I was now at the closed door to the throne room, trying to get in between them, and Aang.

I'm having a bit of trouble now that I'm fighting about sixty firebenders, and I bet I hear more coming. I switched to an ice sword in my right hand and a water whip in my left. I try to whip about five guards while knocking another out with the broadside of my ice sword like Sokka showed me how to do.

Every time I knock out six, seven more come.

**Sokka's POV: **We've been fighting for a good half hour now. The Solar eclipse is being forced, so it's not completely depleting the firebenders of fire… just weakening them considerably. The effects of powering up an entire army is beginning to wear on me, but I keep it up for just a bit longer. After a few more moments, and I can drop it and do something nice and relaxing, like storming the Capital without powering up an entire army.

Toph is still being amazing. She is taking out firebender after fire bender, after firebender. She's also taking down a considerable amount of Dai Li, and guards and soldiers. What a woman!

There's that proud swelling in my chest that reminds me that she's mine, and it convinces me to keep glowing for just a minute more.

**Zuko's POV: **I remember that she threw the first punch. We were both weakened by the eclipse, but could both still bend. Due to the Eclipse Azula was back down to orange fire. But the Troops were closing in on the Palace and Sokka was charging up the troops, me included.

Her blasts were easier to duck than I thought. I threw a dragon kick swinging my leg up to near her face, and she had to lean backwards and duck to avoid it. That put her at a weak spot. I threw a fire punch at her stomach, and she lost balance, falling.

Azula was never defeated easily. She supported herself by her arms and spun her legs around, creating a wide column of fire and using the move to swing herself onto her feet. Quickly disintegrating the fire, I created a jet under me and flew just over her head and shot another blast at her vulnerable back.

She would've fallen on her face, had she not curled into a ball and rolled onto her back. Then she leaned onto her hands and jumped up, sending yet another column of fire out with the kick as her legs flew up.

I stepped to the right and avoided the column easily, then continued fighting.

**Mai's POV: **I hear it's hard to move an astral body in the first place, nonetheless, hold it in place. It's been forty minutes and Teo is drenched in sweat as Ty Lee and I continue circling him, me shooting daggers at whoever starts to attempt shooting at us, Ty Lee knocking out anyone who even looks at us in trepidation. I can tell how much she cares for him, and even anyone who hasn't lived with those two could see how hard she was fighting for him, and all those gazes she gave him.

Before the battle, I had Toph make me several earth daggers, and metal daggers, and Katara made me several ice knives, and wood daggers. I put them all in a pouch. Right now I was throwing the metal ones left and right, trying to pin down as many soldiers as possible.

I saw a huge man coming up behind me, and, on instinct, I whipped around and threw a long ice knife at him. It hit him directly on the forehead, splitting the skin, though not deep, and shattering on impact, several icy pieces of shrapnel flying into his eyes, cutting his nose and splitting his lip. He cried in pain and I knocked him over with a kick in between the legs. I left him writhing on the ground.

I spun around tossed another rock knife and it threw back a soldier coming up to the side of Teo, between Ty Lee and me. It caught the plate of his armor, and it hit hard. It thoroughly dented the armor, making it slightly harder to breathe.

I hated being brutal, but this was war, and if you weren't the very brutal ones, then you are the very dead ones.

**Aang's POV: **We circled each other. He threw out teasing remarks that barely hit the skin. After being taught by Toph, these rude comments weren't much of anything.

"After a hundred years of the Fire Lords fearing for the Avatar to return and overthrow them, here he comes… as a child. Are you nervous little boy?"

"Not at all."

I shifted his feet out from under him with earthbending, and the battle began. He leapt up and whipped his arms around fast, ripping apart the energies in the air, then crashing them together as lightning.

The bolt of lightning spun at me and I jumped back, giving myself time to get into a redirection pose. I felt the bolt run up my arm, and slide through my body, crackling and sizzling. I quickly shifted my other hand back towards him, and let the energy slide out, crashing at his feet and throwing him back.

While he was on his back, I threw a pillar up, carrying his already slightly mangled body. He quickly stood up on the pillar and slapped his hand to the ground, heating the tiles underneath us. Using airbending, I managed to cool it, but that gave him time to collect himself, and get off the pillar. He was now using jets of flame to fly up near the ceiling. I created an air scooter and rode up towards the ceiling too, leveling myself with him.

He turned his body quickly, creating a long whip of fire, and chasing me with it. I barely escaped, jumping right over it, at one point the whip and I were face to face.

I scootered to the wall and pounced off of it, gathering up water in the air as I was lunging at Ozai. Using the water I'd collected. I created a giant water hammer, and rammed it into the Fire Lord, knocking off his balance and having him fall to the floor. I jumped down too, using airbending to soften my fall. I created a rock body suit, and then proceeded to lunge myself at him in a tackle.

He turned back to me, fury reflected in his eyes.

**Sokka's POV: **I had taken a small break from glowing to do some normal fighting, but now I'm back to the glowosity. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm fighting less soldiers than I expected. Maybe they're just intimidated by my glowing. Toph has fallen slightly behind me, just out of sight, but I can still feel her presence. It's like the sun. You don't always look straight at it, but you always know it's there to warm you on a cool day. She's my sun.

Some imbecilic newly recruited soldier charged at me with a long, unmanageable, flimsy spear. I easily dodged his attack and stuck my foot out to trip him.

"Oh, that's the oldest trick there is Sokka! That's prehistoric and outdated!" Toph groaned as she felt me trip him.

"Hey, it's effective!" I called back in protest, turning to her. "As you could feel, it filled out its purpose!"

She lifted one eyebrow and smirked at me, putting one hand on her hip. I knew that face!

I whirled around to see the overzealous youth on his feet again with a small dagger. He lunged at me and I ducked the overhead attack, grabbed his leg and flung it up, tripping him again.

"Okay, it's not the best trick in the book…" I sorely admitted to her. I hated being wrong.

"Like I said, so outdated! Now what do you say?" I grumbled.

"You were right." I mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear.

"And more importantly…?" She waited patiently as I grumbled and stabbed a passing soldier.

"I was wrong." I gritted through my teeth.

"And don't you go forgetting it!" I frowned and turned my back to her, and continued glowing.

**Zuko's POV: **I lunged through the air and did an intricate kick, my foot dragging a long, flaming rope. She dodged it by lunging and rolling out of the way.

She slowly stood up again, her topknot was coming slightly undone and the two pieces of hair in front of her face was becoming messy and tangled. I heard a strangled breath cut through the silence, and I realized that it was hers.

Suddenly, a shrill laugh cut through the air, followed by a breathy voice.

"You thought that I would play nice and fair? You think I would let you get away with taking my birthright to the Throne?!" She laughed in an insane manner, her high pitch denoted her hysteria. "Surely you know me better than that Zuzu!?" Her voice was back to its normalcy.

She threw a ball of fire at a nearby window, and my eyes widened. She displayed a complex jump and flew out the window with her fire jets. She was headed to the troops. That was what I was trying to prevent! Without flinching, or stopping to catch my breath, I lunged out of the window too, leaving the slightly scorched room of many memories behind me.

**Toph's POV: **Sokka moved more ahead of me and he we were out of chatting distance. That was probably for the better though, because I wanted to focus completely on wiping out the soldiers. Multitasking was never among my strong points. I have to completely focus on the battle, or I'll really fight badly.

I could easily knock out these pathetic soldiers coming at me. One after the other, after the other. They didn't even make it exciting. Then I felt someone strangely familiar come up. Sokka seemed to recognize the man. I felt him involuntarily back away from the guard in fear. I heard him indistinctively mutter something.

That's when I remembered him. One day when I was taking the lightning charges, I fell into the sleep-like state that melded Sokka and my minds together. He was the guard right outside his cell. He was featured in several of these mind melds. I had started calling him the Nightmare Man. But Sokka had a different name for him. That was what Sokka was muttering quietly while he quietly hid away.

"Hisato."

**Teo's POV: **All my limbs and muscles were screaming at me in pain and agony. I had dropped the eclipse a few minutes ago. Now I was using both of my hands to hold back the comet. My feet buckled under me in exhaustion and weakness. I was on my knees. All of my clothes were drenched in sweat. If I was given a tub, I could probably fill it by wringing out my clothes, scraping it off my skin, and shaking it out of my hair.

I felt the comet shoving at my shield. It may be thousands upon thousands of miles high in the sky, but I could distinctly feel me shoving it back, and it scratching and clawing, and licking at the shield with the fiery anger and frustration that's been building up for several long minutes.

I afford to look around me, and my stiff neck protests before slowly turning around to see the troops.

There she is, gorgeous, strong, and brave, leaping into the throng of murderous guards with giant machetes. I would've dropped the comet to help her, had she not have already knocked them all out before the thought even finished processing. Just watching her gave me the strength to keep fighting. The searing pain shooting through my entire body subsided into admiring her beautiful figure and grace. There wasn't anything about her that I didn't love.

Something caught the corner of my eye, and in curiosity, I looked over slightly. It was a Fire Nation soldier; a firebender. He was in the middle of creating lightning. It was nothing all too shocking… until I saw where he was going to aim it at.

It was aimed directly at Ty Lee.

In panic I dropped the comet I was holding, flung myself to my feet, instinctively flinging my arms out, facing this soldier, not realizing quite what I was doing. He froze in mid-technique, and dropped his arms to his sides, dropping the energies in the process.

I felt all the air leave his vicinity, and I felt all the air in his body following my technique and leaving his body. He grabbed his throat quickly, his eyes bulged out in shock; reflecting my feelings of panic as I figured out what I was doing, but not being able to stop myself. Only a few seconds later, his oxygen deprived brain shriveled and the entire body shut down. I had just killed the man.

Suddenly, all the pain from the last couple of hours along with the realization that I had just ended a human life crashed down on my shoulders, and I collapsed to the ground, and tears started fall down my cheeks. I was embarrassed to be doing this in public, but I couldn't stop the flow.

Dimly, I heard Ty Lee's perfect voice ask someone to create an earth tent, and I partially felt her smooth arms wrap around me in a comforting hug as we were surrounded by rock. I continued to cry into her shoulder as she rocked me back and forth slowly, rubbing my back lightly and whispering "shhh, shhh" quietly into my ears.

I had just killed someone.

**Katara's POV: **I had now knocked out about one hundred seventy five guards, and they had stopped coming in droves. There was about seven left. I only had a mere trickle of water left, and didn't have time to grab more out of the air.

I created several little ice chards and threw them at the remaining seven guards. I hit some of them, and some just landed on them. While they were distracted I grabbed a huge bubble of water from the air and knocked out the remaining seven with a water whip, then used the water to tie them to the ground.

I was done!

Deciding against distracting Aang, I went the other way to go help the troops.

**Toph's POV: **I was finally face to face with the Nightmare Man. The man who had tortured, and beat, and whipped, and burned the love of my life… apparently many lives. I had felt Sokka's fear of the man, and he still feared him now, despite the fact that Sokka was now kick butt powerful and Hisato was just a normal guard.

Oh! He was going to be slaughtered!

I ran up to him and shifted his feet out from under him. While he was down I used several rocks to create a tight headband around his forehead. I pressed it in harshly and I felt it digging into his skin.

I 'looked' around at all the people around us and I enclosed us in a small rock room. He was seriously confused, angry, and a little scared; which he should be.

"You're Hisato from the Torture Prison called The Dragon's Breath?"

"Yes, what's it to you?" He said angrily as he tried to step forward to shoot a fire blast at me; I trapped his feet to the floor. Before he could do an arms only move I picked up a large boulder and flung it as his stomach. My thin feet cuffs that I bound him in broke and he flew back, wincing in pain. I felt the cuts on his body.

"What's your problem?!" He spat out, breathless. His voice sounded like something was coming out of it. Kind of like when Aang tries to talk with water in his mouth; only this liquid sounded thicker than water. My guess was blood.

"You tortured my love…" I began, then threw him up in the air with a pillar of rock. While he was in the air I grabbed his leg with a sand whip and threw him against a wall, then dropped him at my feet.

"…you let Azula torture him, which is worse!…" my voice got slightly louder as I pick him up on a boulder and crash him into wall after wall. He started to resist less and just put his hands across his face to protect himself.

"…And when you hurt my love…" I threw him to the ground, my voice getting louder still; my rage level off the top. If I was Sparky, I'd have smoke coming out of my ears. I was going to make this sorry little pipsqueak regret that he ever met Sokka.

"…You answer directly to me!" I was positively screaming as I ripped my meteorite bracelet off my arm and formed it into a dagger and jabbed it into his crotch quickly before pulling it out and cleaning it. Why kill him? He needs to understand what torture feels like.

I turned my back to him and left him writhing on the ground as I put my bracelet back on, lowered the wall, and jumped back into the battle, looking for Sokka so we could continue fighting.

**Azula's POV: **I dashed through the throng of people. I couldn't believe my pathetic brother was actually beating me. I had never thought it was possible. I was always the superior of the two siblings.

I just continued blindly running until I saw something interesting. It was my old friend, Mai! She was fighting all of my troops. Knocking out several and pinning others to random trees and shrubs.

Grinning wickedly I grabbed a spear from one of my soldiers, and broke off the stick part so that it was just a dagger, not caring that he was now totally weaponless, and decided to greet my old friend.

**Mai's POV: **Ty Lee had run to comfort Teo a few minutes ago. Right now I was unstoppable. I was shooting daggers right and left. No one could touch me. Even though I wasn't a bender I felt as if I was glowing with power and unnatural energy in me. No one could drag me away from the thrill of the battle.

Suddenly I heard my name being shouted and I popped my head up to see Zuko yelling at me frantically. All these thoughts ran through my head. He must've defeated Azula! Then why was he so panicked? At least he's alive! What is he trying to tell me?

All these thoughts died away in my brain as I suddenly felt cold, piercing, rough, metal cut into me and I gasped. I looked down to see a tip of a knife protruding from the lower side of my stomach.

Breathing became labored as I tasted blood in my mouth; it started oozing out, from my stomach, out of my mouth. I was coughing it up. The rusty smell of blood wafted through my nostrils and my vision became blurry as I felt someone violently tear the knife out of my back.

The last thing I remember is the ground coming closer and closer, and Zuko's panicked face becoming farther and more distant, despite him trying to run toward me.

**Zuko's POV: **I looked frantically for my insane sister. Where could she have gone? Why did she leave if the battle wasn't finished? What was she looking for in the troops. I figured if she was just running away from me, she wouldn't be making many twists and turns to try to allude me, she'd just be running in a straight line to put distance between us. Hmm. A straight line from here would be… oh crap!

The park! Mai! I have never run faster in my life than when I ran to try and get to the Capital park.

I arrived just in time to see Azula coming up behind her with a large knife. As loud as I could, though my lungs were burning from the run, I yelled at her. Her head came up and she looked at me for a moment with what seemed to be joy. But that gorgeous, smiling face didn't last long as I stared in horror as I watched Azula come up behind her and stab her through the stomach. A small hole protruded as blood began to pool on her tunic. She collapsed to the ground, her mouth red from coughing up blood. My entire heart shattered.

In a blind fury I began charging at the monster that was my sister, throwing lightning bolt after lightning bolt. She was barely dodging. Finally, one barely nicked her metal shoes and misbalanced her, giving me a chance to shoot her down with a fire ball. She was wincing on the ground and trying to pull herself up when I came over to her, disgust and hatred swarmed through me.

"I had mixed feelings about fighting you earlier today. I thought that you were still my sister, and that I might not be able to take you down because of that. You just made it so clear. You're not a person, you're a monster. Good bye Sister dear!" I swung out my swords and stabbed down. She did not scream; she must have felt above it.

The minute I knew I was safe from her, I whirled around to see Katara hovering over Mai, healing her with glowing water that she pulled out of her waterskin that Toph gave her. I didn't know that she still had Spirit World water; but thank the Spirits she did!

I ran over and kneeled by Mai, taking her limp hand that was always cool and pale, but suddenly felt colder, and paler. The blood drained from my face as I feared the worst. For several minutes, I just watched her unmoving face while cradling her hand begging every Spirit there was for her to please get better.

**Katara's POV: **I frowned in concentration as I scanned over her injuries over and over again with water.

I remember proudly coming out of my fight with the guards and going through the troops looking for Toph and Sokka. I was hoping I could fight with them. Instead I stumble onto Mai unconscious in a puddle of blood while Zuko was fighting Azula with a rage I wouldn't have thought possible if I hadn't felt the same way five months ago in Ba Sing Se when Azula killed Aang. I knew that the Spirits led me here for this reason to help heal her.

This was better than it looked, I knew that for a fact. Azula was really out of it and hit her just missing her stomach instead of piercing her heart. I could tell that no major organs were shish-kabobbed.

However she did hit a few major veins and arteries. The blood loss is what made her fall unconscious. I had already mended the veins and patched up the skin. Now the rest was mostly in the Spirit's hands. If she lost too much blood, then her heart wouldn't be able to get jump-started again; and she would die.

So the question now became; did I get here in time.

**Aang's POV: **He shot a huge blaze of flames at me again. I merely put my hands in front of me and let it go to either side of my body. I then created a huge rock wave that picked him up and crashed him down, pulling him slightly underground.

I was about to win.

With his feet sunk in the ground, he couldn't move. All he could do was shoot awkward fire balls at me; which I easily dodged. I dragged him closer to me and had him sink further into the ground so his hands were trapped as well. I let him sink further until only everything from his shoulders up were above ground.

He looked at me with fury, defeat, and panic in his eyes. Then I saw that he was a person too; and I could never kill any living creature. It was inhuman. It was something that Azula did, something that he did, and never would I want for me to be anything like either of them. Silently; I tapped out a message for Sokka and Toph to come.

**Dato's POV: **With the other airbender out of the game, as well as the pink acrobat; the knife thrower, the healer, and the Scarred Firebender were left completely helpless. Anyone could easily come up behind them and kill them.

That's why I took it upon myself to play the protector for now. I constantly circled around them; using my earthbending to knock out all the guards and soldiers. I kept circling; knocking out one after another. I was in a small match with a firebender who was equally skilled as me. He was blocking my attacks well, but he couldn't touch me either. That was when I felt it. A nonbender had snuck up behind me and stabbed me right through the heart with his sword.

I was dying. Everything I wanted to do, everyone I wanted to see.

My kids; Mya and Tung.

My wife Nara.

My brother.

I won't ever see them again.

I feel my life force draining now, and I'm losing my abilities to bend. My eyesight is becoming fuzzy and it's becoming harder to think. Sound starts to die out, then I embrace the blackness as it swallows me up.

**Toph's POV: **Sokka is weary. I'm weary. But we're winning. I can feel the soldiers panic and retreat; letting us move closer and closer to the palace. Suddenly, there is tapping from far away. It is quiet and faint, but it's still there like a silent plea.

"Sokka! Aang needs us now!" I call to him and he nods, running over to me. I quickly bend us underground, then move us to under the palace. We pop out right next to a humongous door.

**Zuko's POV: **There's nothing else in the world right now besides Mai, and Katara doing all she can to heal Mai. I don't even look at Katara. All I can do is stare at her perfect face and stroke her soft hand with the tough skin of my thumb while supporting it my the rest of my hand.

"That's all I can do." Katara finally said, upsettedly. I was positive I knew what that means. Tears started streaking down my cheeks. I just stayed there for several minutes, crying uncontrollably.

Then I saw something. I was almost positive I saw her eyelid twitch slightly. I kept my gaze on her steadily without once daring to blink. A slight groan came as I saw Mai's gorgeous face scrunch adorably as she slowly opened her eyes and groaned again; slowly moving to rub her head.

Oh Spirits! She's alive! Thank the Spirits! Mai is ok!

I hugged her right then, fresh tears coming down my face. Everything else fell away, and all thoughts conveniently left my mind save one.

Mai is alive!!

**Sokka's POV: **I had expected Aang to be in some kind of trouble, or something. Instead Toph and I come in to see Ozai in a hole in the ground, and Aang looking ashamed and upset. It made no sense.

"Ok, I think I speak for both of us when I say huh!?" I announced. I saw Ozai roll his eyes annoyed. Toph snickered into her hand and Aang rolled his eyes, but in an amused way. His face dimmed to an upset level soon though.

"I can't kill him. I just can't. It goes against everything I've ever been taught to take away any life." He looked at me shamefully. I couldn't help but be annoyed. Those goddamned airbender morals!

"Well none of us are gonna kill him! I can't say I get a kick out of murder either!" Toph put her hand on her hip impatiently.

"Oh good Spirits! I'm going to die of boredom way before any of you can decide what to do!" Ozai rolled his eyes again in exasperation.

"You shut up!" I snapped at him and went over and punched him in the face. Then I turned back to the guys with a huge smile on. "I've always wanted to punch the Fire Lord!" I exclaimed in a giddy manner.

"Wow Sokka!" Toph just looked at me for a second and started laughing in my face. I frowned in annoyance. "Ok…" She said a bit more serious now. "…Now who's gonna kill him?"

Suddenly I felt a jolt in the chest and I knew that I was going to be possessed by a Spirit any minute now.

**Aang's POV: **We were all wondering what we were gonna do about the Fire Lord when I saw Sokka glowing again. He was a bright red and he wasn't in control, so my guess was that he was being possessed. I knew that that's what was happening when I heard Sokka start talking gibberish.

"Ozai, son of fire, you have followed in the mislead footsteps of those before you. As my son, I'd expect more. You have misused the gifts given to you and have corrupted the view of my gifts for the world. What people should look at as a gift of warmth and light, they see as a creation of destruction and chaos. For this the Powers that Be have asked us to strip you of the gifts we have given you."

Ozai had a look of confusion plastered on his face, but I knew exactly what that meant, and so did Toph.

Sokka turned a cold, unfeeling white, and reached out and touched the Fire Lord's neck. As Sokka did this, Ozai gasped and turned a bright red; he looked as he was writhing in pain as the Fire Spirit drained Ozai of his life force.

I bit back upset voices of protest to at least make the end slightly more comfortable for him. It seemed kind of silly to be asking to coddle the evilest man on the planet while a Spirit drained him of his life force, so I stayed quiet.

"Aang, you'd better go out to the troops and tell them that we've won, y'know, to avoid more people dying!" Toph said as she made a rock coffin to put the body in. I quickly nodded and turned away from the pained figure slowly being dragged out of the ground as he became more lifeless. As fast as I could, I left Sokka to deal with the body, and Toph to deal with Sokka, who's always confused after he gets possessed.

**Katara's POV:** Ty Lee was back on the battle field now, and lightly fighting again. Teo had calmed down and was quickly dragging the comet away from us, making it last about two minutes as opposed to a few hours. We could see that this was easier for him because it's easier to move something quickly if it was going that way anyway. If you're pushing against it, it's harder. Both seemed to have recovered more.

Zuko and I helped Mai to her feet and got her into a home a block away. Luckily, it was Ty Lee's abandoned home. Her family came back to her house after Omashu took back the city. We laid her on the sheets carefully. She had smirked.

"You're lying me on a neon pink fluff ball. Great!" She said, imitating her old, more dreary self. Zuko smiled and stroked her hair as he saw her immediately fall asleep. Once we saw that Mai was safe, we came back outside and jumped back into the battle. Happily though, the battle was short lived and Aang came out a minute later; announcing that the Fire Lord was dead and the war was over.

As fast as my legs would allow, I ran over to him and attacked him in a huge hug. He rubbed my back lightly.

"It's done!" I whispered quietly, to myself as much as to him. "It's finally over."

**Teo's POV: **The battle was over, though I had gone through my trials and tribulations, I had survived. Ty Lee ran up to me just then and attacked me in a huge hug.

"We survived!" She squealed in delight.

Just then, I went in and gave her a long kiss. She made no move to further the kiss or pull away. I pulled away and looked at her in worry that I had done something to ruin her friendship. She had a look of shock on her face and I panicked inwardly, praying that I hadn't totally messed up.

Her shocked face was slowly replaced with a wide grin and she came in and kissed me again. My brain was overloaded. She liked me too! I can't believe it! The gorgeous Ty Lee was interested in me! Then I just shut my brain up and melted into the kiss.

We had won the battle, we had won the war, and now I had just won the love of my life, things were looking up.

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**Can you believe that I brought back Hisato!? Aren't i evil!**

**Sorry, I feel bad about killing Dato, and it was hard for me. From the beginning of my planning out the final battle, I knew I wanted to quickly build up an anonymous character emotionally, then kill him off in the next chapter. **

**What didya think?**


	36. Fallen Heroes

**GAH! My first subscriber has become... sob!... a Zoph fan! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Starts writhing in a corner! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ALL OF YOUR TOKKANEER FRIENDS LIKE THAT!? SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!**

**Also, Empress of Pudding, you and my little sister Isabelle have completely ruined Sozen's Comet for me. I am at Duke, I don't have TV. I have to wait for it to come out on iTunes, which it hasn't yet. SO YOU TWO JUST COMPLETELY RUINED IT FOR ME!!**

**Anyway, this is another chapter you people will kill me over... it is a sad one. But Dato is mentioned here again. **

**This is a short chapter, and it's the second to last. Thanks for bearing with me through these long thirty six chapters. Only one left after this.**

**Disclaimer: As a matter of fact, I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.**

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Chapter 36: Fallen Heroes

**Aang's POV: **We collected the bodies of the deceased. We also let some unarmed nonbenders from the Fire Nation collect their bodies so those soldiers on the opposing side could have a proper funeral too. If they were Earth Kingdom, they had an identification tag that we could use so we can return them to their hometown. I carefully picked them up on slabs of rock and laid them down in a line so we could have a ceremony for them.

I especially remember carrying one soldier who was stabbed in the back. His name was Dato, and Katara had told me that he had died protecting her, Mai, and Zuko. When I heard that I vowed that he would have a stone statue built in his honor in his town.

Toph, Bumi, and I mechanically picked up one after the other. At one specific point, Toph called me over while standing next to a particularly bloody body. This soldier had clearly put up a fight. By the clothes, I could tell it was a Water Tribe Fighter.

"Aang, I can't identify dead people, but I'm worried that I know who this is… could you confirm it for me?" I nodded curiously then bent down and pulled out a bit of water and washed some of the blood away from his face. When enough blood was washed away for the face to be identifiable, I moved the water away, then dropped it in shock at the pale, lifeless face in front of me.

"So I can guess I was right." She said it as a statement instead of a question. I could barely nod. We just looked at each other.

"We should tell them." I finally said. Toph sucked her cheeks in before agreeing silently.

**Katara's POV:** Aang said he had something he needed to show me. At first I was excited, thinking it was a romantic thing, then I saw the look in his eyes and I automatically knew it was a grieving related topic.

My heart was breaking for the long lines of unmoving faces, embraced by death. They seemed to be getting bloodier and gorier as they went on. A about seven corpses down, there was a mangled body that was so attacked and bloodied, I couldn't identify who it was.

Aang grasped my hand as he lead me to that tortured body, and I begged my eyes to move away. They wouldn't listen. As it grew closer and closer, a face became distinguishable.

Oh Spirits!

I spun around and started crying into Aang's shoulder, hugging him tightly. He stroked my hair and whispered soothing words as I just stood and cried.

**Sokka's POV: **Toph dragged me though the sea of bodies as if there was something she was trying to show me. She stopped for no apparent reason, then turned to me.

"Sokka, I need to show you something that I really wish you didn't have to see." She said to me with full seriousness in the tone of her voice. I frowned in worry. What did she want to show me?

She pulled me over for a bit until I saw Katara crying ino Aang's shoulder. I run over to her in worry, yelling in the meantime.

"Katara! What's wrong!? Are you ok!?" I yelled to her as I ran down. As I came closer I saw a damaged, beat up, and bloody body. This guy must've put up a big fight, he was stabbed repeatedly.

She just continued sobbing. I ran up to see what was going on. I came closer until I was right next to my sister, rubbing her back and asking her what was wrong. Aang looked at me in an upset, grieving, and sympathetic look, then shifted his eyes, telling me to look over at the corpse. Slightly worried, I complied, then gasped when I saw who this person was.

"No!" I was able to gasp out. I ran right over to his face, tears were coming down my cheeks now. "No! No! No! No!" I started screaming and crying all at once, tears racking down my face. My throat tightened, leaving me with a need to cough, but I ignored it. All I could think of was the face in front of me.

Dad.

Toph kneeled down next to me and rubbed my back so lightly. I collapsed onto her, tears running down my face I collapsed and continued crying into the crook of her neck. She lightly stoked the back of my head and let me cry without saying a word. She tightly wrapped her delicate, but strong arms around me as if trying to block out the world.

The sobbing was less now, but I was still lightly crying into her neck, whispering to myself.

"No, no, no!"

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**Toldja you'd hate me. Sorry! Anyway, only one more chapter left! It's the epilogue.**


	37. Epilogue

**This is it! This is the very last chapter of this fanfiction. Wow, I'm almost kinda depressed that it's over, but happy too! **

**Anyway, I wanted to thank all my incredible readers for sticking with me to the end. I love you guys. And I'm gonna list as many as I can remember.**

**Empress of Pudding (I saw the episode, that doesn't denote Zoph, plus, he treats her like crap. But I still love you as my first subscriber!)**

**avatarfreak35**

**SaiyanShinobi**

**avatargirl92008**

**vector2michael (When I hurt Sokka, I could probably toast marshmallows with the anger flames you gave me! But you were still awesome... though you ship Sukka...)**

**AvatarProdigy (Somehow, you always knew just how to boost my ego, and make me feel great all day!)**

**Mr. Average (Oh my god, I had some of the coolest discussions with you, you were one of the greatest subscribers. One of those readers that everyone wishes they had... and I do!Peace. ha ha)**

**Nocturne05**

**arizony (Wow! You were amazing! Always reviewing! Whenever I'd post a chapter your name'd be there with a great review.)**

**BeccaBear93 (You were also amazing with the reviews. You were the sweetest person ever! Huzzah for my fellow Buffy fan!)**

**kataang412**

**Philip 456 (Here's your kataang that you were in need of! You were awesome with reviewing too!)**

**my trancey inspiration**

**Freakplay**

**rakim4ever**

**atlax3**

**Piper Aurora** **Potter **

**waterfall-kunoichi**

**J.M Rekark**

**WWMTgirl**

**Princess of Danny Phantom**

**T.B. Cummings**

**Lexabeta (my newest subscriber! Just got you tonight! When you get this, I hope you like it!)**

**Sorry if I butchered some of your guy's names. If I forgot some one, let me know and I'll fix it right away.Anyway, here's the last chapter, I hoped you liked my story, and might want to read some future ones. I love all of you guys, and will miss you! **

**Disclaimer: Me no own Avatar.**

* * *

Epilogue

**Toph's POV: **It's been almost six months since the end of the war. Sparky became Fire Lord. Whenever we visit him I always tease him by calling him the Spark Lord. He hates that so much. Mai is obviously his Fire Lady, though I know she hates the servants always offering her things she has no use for, and Ladies in Waiting constantly trying to put crappy make up on her.

Teo and Ty Lee are definitely in love, and have decided to become Nomads. They travel to each of their homes constantly. They have several. There's Ty Lee's home in the Fire Nation, but they rarely go there because Ty Lee has this annoyance at her six sisters, and Teo always says that he just wants his one Ty Lee, the others are sometimes making passes on him. He also told us "it's easy to tell which is mine, because only one girl goes around the house walking on her hands."

Those two also sometimes visit the Northern Air Temple. But not that often to that one either, because everyone always looks at them funny, and both have an incredible dislike for the pollution. Teo finds it hard to believe that he ever found the disgusting smog cool, but he understands that they need it to survive, so he just avoids it, even though he loves visiting the Mechanist.

Mainly, the two lovebirds spend their time at the Eastern or Western Air Temples. Right after the war, Aang brought all of us (except Zuko and Mai) to the Eastern Air Temple, where Teo found a baby Sky Bison. Ty Lee loved naming things and spent the better part of the day running names by all of us.

_Flashback:_

"_Hey Toph, I have seven more names and you HAVE to tell me which you like the best!" I grumbled incoherently and turned away from Sokka, who I was just talking to. Ty Lee knew that it was best not to ask Sokka for names, because he suggested Mr. Ookum-Schnookums. Ty Lee told us it was a girl and then he shut up._

"_Ty Lee, I don't want to hear it. Name her Lee for all I care!"She looked slightly upset before she turned and jumped off._

_End Flashback:_

Finally, she had come up with a name that they both liked. Teo's and Ty Lee's bison was named Anari.

Aang and Katara are travelling together. Aang still has a lot of post-war clean up to do. Earth Kingdom towns need to be cleared of all Fire Nation troops. The South Pole still has a lot of rebuilding to be done, though Master Pakku has that covered. Aang also needs to stop any Ozai Loyalist groups from trying to overthrow Zuko. I hear they are under cover somewhere in the Fire Nation. Once they're done with that, Katara told me that Aang and her plan to have two homes, one in the South Pole, and one at the Southern Air Temple; even though they love to travel around, and couldn't stay put for more than a month.

Sokka and I are also travelling around the Earth Kingdom. Sometimes I give quick earthbending lessons for money when we fall short.

We always come together for reunions once every month and a half. Right now Sokka and I are travelling to Ba Sing Se, where the re-appointed Earth King is throwing a huge fancy party for the six month anniversary of the end of the war. Grumbling, Sokka dragged me back into the city.

I have to say, without the Dai Li, everything is much more loose, and comfortable. It's less annoying now, though I still can't believe that the Earth King decided to marry Joo Dee. It was so random!

The King sent for an elaborate carriage to pick us up, but I just smirked and Sokka and I decided to use earthbending pockets to give Aang and Katara a scare.

I travelled underneath the palace and felt around for Sugar Queen, and felt her immediately. She was in the sixth dining room, next to the fourth Living Room. Twinkle Toes was right next to her. I grinned evilly.

Before even I could comprehend it, we were right behind them, without having made a single sound. They didn't even know they were here.

"So, Aang, who still needs to come?" Katara asked with her back to us.

"Zuko and Mai just came this morning… punctual as ever. Teo sent Ty Lee ahead on Anari, and she came last night. Teo should be coming just after lunch on Glider. I don't know when Toph and Sokka are coming." Aang summed up. I saw Sokka biting his hand to keep from laughing. I just shook silently with mirth.

"Well I'm not surprised about Toph and Sokka, you know how Sokka has to literally drag Toph to any fancy gathering that someone is holding for us. Then Toph'll put up a struggle on the way there. They might come in a few days tops." Now both Sokka and I were frowning as Aang laughed. They turned around to leave and both shouted when they found us here.

"You were saying…?" Sokka said in a clearly annoyed voice. Both of our arms were crossed and we were frowning at them.

"Oh! Uh… hi Sokka! Toph! Good to see you here so early!" Aang blubbered nervously .Katara cut in to avoid Sokka verbally attacking the panicked monk.

"Toph! Great! All of the girls are here! We need to go shopping for dresses!" I groaned and gave Sokka a 'help me!' look.

"Do we have to wear dresses!?" I whined.

"Yes! Sorry, this is gonna be a very fancy one!" I grumbled incoherently.

About an hour later, we were in Ba Sing Se's best dress store, and I was grumbling like mad.

**Katara's POV: **I had already found the perfect gowns for Ty Lee and Mai. Now we were all looking for a dress for Toph.

Mai's dress was an Evening Gown. It was black, off the shoulders with long, tight sleeves. The dress went down to her ankles, and right below the breast line, there was a plain, but effective blood red ribbon. There was no bow in the back where the ribbon ended, much to her delight. There were special pins holding it in place, while swamp tree sap was used to hold the ribbon together. It looked gorgeous on her, and made her seem mysterious. Especially with the blood red rose we planned to put in her low bun in the back.

Ty Lee's was, as usual, pink. She got a sleeveless dress that ended just before her knees, and the skirt spun up when she spun. It was also very tight and helped to show off her curves. She also planned to wear a low braid as opposed to her usual high one. We decided to entwine a bright pink ribbon into her braid, and it looked great.

I looked through the racks several times over until I found a dress that fitted Toph perfectly, in size and style. It was a looser dress than Mai's, and didn't cling to the skin, but was still tight enough to prominently display the curves and breasts she was developing quickly. It was a forest green, with light green ribbons around her waist that was tied in a loose knot and hung gracefully down the rest of her dress, which ended in between her knees and ankles. The sleeves were a peasant style that became wider as it went out, and drooped lightly by her wrists. There was a v-neck cut, but it didn't cut down too low, and the lining by the v-neck was traced with the same light green ribbon hanging at her waist.

"Try this one on Toph!" I said as I ran over to her. She felt the fabric of the dress and looked at me confused.

"This is a fancy dress? the fabric actually feels comfortable!" She said very surprised. "I'll try this one on." She said finally, and a huge grin spread across my face. After a few minutes of hopelessly browsing for a dress of my own, Toph came out in the dress I chose for her. It looked amazing. I told her so.

"It's fairly comfy too!"She said, smiling. I knew this was her dress. We added an apple blossom wreath/headband for her hair, after we finally convinced her to let her hair loose out of it's traditional bun.

For another hour and a half, I kept searching for my perfect dress without any avail. There was nothing I could find on the racks. After a few more minutes of sighing I turned to tell everyone that we could check another dress shop, but then I saw Ty Lee pull out a dress and I knew it was the one for me.

It was a deep, dark, but vibrant blue with a deep gray ribbon lining that looks like the sky just before a storm at the bottom of the dress, which ends just before my knees. The straps are braided ribbons with light and bright blues, pale and seaweed greens, lavenders, and dark purples. It was stunning.

I tried it on and it was exactly my size. We were all happy after we left for the Palace again, but I couldn't help feeling upset when I saw a marble fountain with marble statues of people in the center. This was a tribute to fallen war heroes. Aang helped construct it. I recognized that Earth Kingdom soldier named Dato, Jet, Yue, and also I saw my Dad. I couldn't help but shed a tear, and Mai rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. I nodded at them, saying that I was okay, then we continued to head for the palace to get ready.

Ty Lee demanded to do our makeup, and I have to say, she did an incredible job. I have never looked so good. Finally, after several hours, the party was about to begin.

**Teo's POV: **I was waiting in a fairly nice Air Nomad tunic that I had found in an old Air Nomad trunk at the Western Air Temple. I was looking for something nice to wear so I didn't have to wear my same outfit that Ty Lee made me a while ago. I wanted something new to surprise her.

She came into the room with the other girls, and she looked spectacular. It was like the designer of her dress had her in mind when he made it. The tight, but flirty dress was tight to show every beautiful curve and feature about this marvelous beauty.

She immediately came up to me with a dazzling smile and I gave her a quick kiss, already warned by the guys that too much outward displays of affection at fancy parties are frowned on.

"Oh Spirits! Teo, you look great! I love your clothes! Where did you get it?"

"The Western Air Temple, I found it in a trunk and wanted to surprise you!" I said, proud that she liked it so much.

"Well you did surprise me! You look great!" She hugged me before I eyed the dance floor where a slow but pretty song was playing. She nodded, already reading my mind and I took her out and stated dancing with her.

After a few songs, I don't know how many, Aang asked to pause the music and got up on a podium, looking like he wanted to speak. We all watched him. I assumed that it was going to be about the end of the war, and how he wanted to thank everybody for their help, and all that junk. What came out of his mouth was very different.

"This party is to celebrate the end of the war, and I wanted to thank everyone for helping me do it. I know most people were wondering where I was for the past one hundred years. I want to tell this story. Before the war, one hundred years ago, I had run away from home because I was afraid of the responsibility put on my shoulders. There was a storm and I was about to drown. In desperation, my past lives gave me the power to freeze myself in an iceberg. One hundred years later, the most beautiful girl in the world comes along and finds me, freeing me from that block of ice."

I saw Katara blushing as Aang gestured for her to come up. She kept shaking her head in embarrassment. He then looked over to me for help, and I bent a small air current to lift her onto the stage. She gasped a little as she found herself on stage, and glared at me lightly. Aang was thanking me silently and Ty Lee was laughing and poked me teasingly.

"Anyway. Some of you know the rest. I journeyed all around the world with my best friends, making new ones, understanding my responsibility to the world, learning new things that helped me defeat the Fire Lord, and falling in love."

The crowd awwed as Aang took Katara's hand in his own. There was something else in his other hand I couldn't quite see what it was.

"Now, after everything that's happened, there is one thing I still have yet to do, and I can't put it off." He turned to Katara and kneeled, showing her what she was holding. She gasped in shock.

It was a necklace almost exactly like hers, only the ribbon was longer, and the pendant was made out of some kind of glowing crystal. I could tell there was a Water Tribe symbol on it, with an underlying swirl inside it that's also an Air Nomad symbol.

"Katara, will you marry me?" Aang asked hopefully. There was another gasp from Katara before she quickly nodded and attacked Aang in a hug. He hugged her back then turned and pulled her hair away from her back and tied the ribbon to her neck. It hung slightly below her other necklace.

**Sokka's POV: **Toph thought I'd be shocked, and was shocked herself when I told her that I knew that was going to happen.

Aang had come to me about a month ago for a quick secret visit. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. He said he wanted to know how to make a Betrothal necklace. Obviously i was surprised, but happily helped him. Obviously I had helped pick out the perfect ribbon, because he wouldn't be able to do that without an expert.

Then I helped him make a clasp from a black pearl that he found in a lobster clam. It was a beautiful pearl, and was easily carved into a clasp.

Then I told him that he needed to find a perfect stone that he could make into a disk, then he had to carve a design that represented himself, her, and the two of them together. He had thanked me and told me what stone he wanted to use. It was the glowing crystals from the Cave of Two Lovers.

From the look on Katara's face, she knew this and recognized it well.

I turned to Toph and she smiled. She looked wonderful in her dress that was perfect for her. I looked back at all of my friends in pure bliss.

I love the world at peace.

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**And, it's over! Thanks for bearing with me for so long, and I hoped you liked it!**


	38. Notice

**Notice**

Okay all my faithful subscribers! I have started a sequel to this, but I'm not sure if I should continue. I need some reviews to tell me whether I've lost all my writing talent and should throw the story down the garbage disposal in the sink (who came up with a garbage disposal IN THE SINK anyway? Was the guy drunk when he got that idea?) or if I should keep going. I've got two subscribers, and I'm wondering where all my amazing readers went like arizony, and Mr. Average, Empress of Pudding, BeccaBear93, Philip 456, AvatarProdigy, and all the rest of you. I missed you guys, and was waiting for you guys! Please come and read to tell me if it's horrible, or has hope.


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